LIFE  &  TIMS 


STEPHEN  HIGGINSON 


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Tlicraas^ntwortli  ili66inson 


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LIFE  AND  TIMES 

OF 

STEPHEN  HIGGINSON 


LIFE  AND  TIMES 

OF 

STEPHEN  HIGGINSON 

J\demher  of  the  Continental  Congress  (1783) 

and 

Author  of  the  '*  Laco  "  Letters^  relating  to 

"John  Hancock  (1789) 

BY 

THOMAS  WENTWORTH  HIGGINSON 

WITH  ILLUSTRATIONS 


BOSTON  AND  NEW  YORK 
HOUGHTON,   MIFFLIN  AND  COMPANY 

1907 


COPYRIGHT   1907  BY  THOMAS  WENTWORTH  HIGGINSON 
ALL   RIGHTS    RESERVED 

PuhlisJicd  September ,  IQ07 


A/ 


■i 


\ 


\  CONTENTS 

-^              I.  Introduction  I 

^            II.  The  Old  Salem  (Mass.)  Families  7 

^             III.  A  Sea  Captain  before  Parliament  (1775)  ^9 

^            IV.  The  Quarter-Deck  m  Politics  (1783)  35 

V.  The  Continental  Congress  (1783)  47 

VI.  The  Annapolis  Convention  (Sept.,  1786)  65 

«4  VII.  Shays'    Insurrection,  or  *•  The  Gentility's 

War"  (1786)  81 

VIII.  The  Nine  States  in  Convention  (1787)  99 

IX.  Laco  and  his  Letters  (1789)  123 

X.  The  Isle  of  France  (1789)  139 

XI.  Municipal  Life  in  Boston  (  1 790-1 804)  151 

XII.  Navy  Agent  (1798)  185 

XIII .  The  Feasts  of  Shells  (1802-03-04)  217 

XIV.  A  Green  Old  Age  ( 1 804-2  8  )  231 
XV.  The  Strange  Career  of  a  Son  and  Heir  257 

XVI,  Last  Days  in  Brookline  269 

XVII.  Stephen  Higginson  as  drawn  by  Others  287 

Index  297 


ILLUSTRATIONS 


Stephen  Higginson  {photogravure)  Frontispiece 

From  the  original  painting  by  Gilbert  Stuart,  in  the  possession 
of  George  Higginson,  Esq.,  Lenox,  Mass. 

The  Whitfield-Higginson  House,  Guilford,  Conn.         lo 

From  a  photograph. 

Nathaniel  Higginson,  Governor  of  Madras  (his  wife, 
and,  entering  the  room,  his  future  son-in-law, 
Stephen  Ayns worth)  12 

From  a  painting  in  the  possession  of  T.  W.  Higginson. 

Facsimile  of  a  Deed,  1671  14 

From  the  original  in  the  possession  of  T.  JV.  Higginson. 

Facsimile  of  Marriage  License  1 6 

From  the  or-ginal  in  the  possession  of  T.  W.  Higginson. 

Facsimile  of  Bill  of  Sale  40 

From  the  original  in  the  possession  of  T.  W.  Higginson. 

Facsimile  of  Letter  from  Bilboa  44 

From  the  original  in  the  possession  of  T.   W.  Higginson. 

Elbridge  Gerry  52 

From  an  engra'ving  by  Longacre,  after  the  painting  by  Van- 
derlyn. 

General  Henry  Knox  76 

From  the  original  portrait  by  Gilbert  Stuart  in  the  Museum 
of  Fine  Arts,  Boston. 

James  Bowdoin  88 

From  the  original  painting  by  Copley  in  the  collection  of  Mrs. 
Robert   C.  Winthrop,  Jr. 


[      vii      ] 


ILLUSTRATIONS 

John  Hancock  126 

From  the  original  painting  by  Copley  in  the  Muieum  of  Fine 
Arts,  Boston. 

Facsimile  of  Invoice  Sheet  142 

From  the  original  in  the  possession  of  T.  JV.  Higginson. 

Facsimile  of  a  Deed,  1796  158 

From  the  original  in  the  possession  of  T.   ff.  Higginson. 

George  Cabot  194 

From  the  original  painting  in  the  possession  of  Mrs.  Henry 
Lee,  Brookline,  Mass. 

The  Frigate  Constitution  2 1 4 

After  the  painting  by  Marshall  Johnson,  copyrighted  in 
1896  by  A.  W.  Elson  &  Co.,  Boston. 

Alexander  Hamilton  280 

From  the  original  painting  by  Trumbull  in  the  Netu  York 
Chamber  of  Commerce,  by  kind  permission  of  the  President, 
Alexander  E.  Orr,  Esq. 

John  Lowell  290 

From  the  painting  by  Gilbert  Stuart  in  the  possession  of 
Lowtir i  great-grandson ,  John  Loivell  of  Boston. 


INTRODUCTION 


INTRODUCTION 

DR.  Franklin  used  to  lament,  so 
far  as  he  could  be  said  to  lament 
anything,  the  absence  of  habitual 
cheerfulness  among  the  Federalists  with 
whom  his  later  life  was  cast.  It  is  hard 
for  us  to  tell  how  much  of  this  charge  was 
just  and  how  much  was  based  on  the  dig- 
nity assumed  unconsciously  by  the  Revo- 
lutionary leaders  while  creating  a  new 
nation,  the  destinies  of  which  were  really 
more  momentous  than  they  knew.  The 
life  of  George  Washington  had  been 
written  four  times  — by  the  elder  Bancroft, 
by  Marshall,  by  Sparks,  and  by  the  viva- 
cious Weems  —  before  any  biographer 
had  acknowledged  in  print  that  this  hero 
ever  smiled  ;  and  it  was  reserved  for  the 
cheery  and  benignant  Irving  to  point 
out,  though  only  in  the  small  types  of  a 
[    3     ] 


INTRODUCTION 

footnote,  that  Washington  once  laughed 
heartil3\  Again,  among  the  minor  leaders 
of  that  period,  one  of  the  first  to  have  his 
life  written  was  Gouverneur  Morris,  when 
Jared  Sparks  became  his  biographer,  but 
it  was  not  until  Morris's  own  diaries  and 
letters  appeared  in  full,  without  Sparks's 
supervision,  that  they  turned  out  to  be 
almost  as  amusing  as  those  of  Horace 
Walpole.  All  this  comes  home  to  me 
when  I  undertake  the  memoir  of  my 
grandfather,  Stephen  Higginson. 

It  is  a  significant  fact  that  while  all  his 
official  writings,  even  in  satire,  have  the 
predominant  gravity  which  marks  the  rest 
of  the  Federalists,  yet  I  learned  from  the 
only  real  specimen  of  the  Federalist  leaders 
with  whom  I  remember  to  have  conversed, 
—  James  Richardson  of  Rhode  Island, — 
of  my  grandfather's  uttering  the  only 
jocose  word  that  I  ever  heard  attributed 
to  any  Federalist  in  defeat.  When  the  last 
large  gathering  of  this  body  of  men  was 
[     4     ] 


INTRODUCTION 

held  at  George  Cabot's  house  in  Brook- 
line  and  a  discussion  arose  as  to  how  they 
should  treat  their  conquerors,  and  when 
all  others  had  advocated  the  sternest 
and  most  crushing  contempt,  the  only  one 
who  took  the  matter  philosophically  was 
Stephen  Higginson.  "After  all,  gentle- 
men," he  said,  "  if  a  man  has  to  live  in  the 
house  with  a  cat,  he  cannot  always  address 
her  as  *  cat '  I  Sometimes  he  must  call  her 
'  Pussy.' " 

To  have  been  one  of  the  first  American 
shipmasters  called  on  to  testify  before  Par- 
liament as  to  American  colonial  matters; 
to  have  been  a  member  of  the  Continental 
Congress  in  its  closing  days;  to  have  been 
second  in  command  during  the  first  effect- 
ive resistance  to  Shays'  Rebellion;  the 
first  to  argue  from  that  peril  the  need  of 
a  stronger  government;  the  first  to  suggest 
that  the  voices  of  nine  out  of  the  thirteen 
States  could  make  the  Confederacy  into  a 
Nation;  the  first  to  organize  and  equip  the 
[     5     ] 


INTRODUCTION 

American  Navy  under  Jefferson's  admin- 
istration;—  these  afford  sufficient  ground 
to  justify  the  writing  of  any  man's  memoir. 
These  suffice  to  place  Stephen  Higginson 
where  he  belongs,  among  the  recognized 
leaders  of  his  time,  that  being  the  period 
of  the  very  formation  of  the  American  Re- 
public. The  fact  that  he  sharply  criticised 
John  Hancock,  in  the  once  famous  "Laco" 
letters,  shows  him  to  have  been,  like  most 
of  the  leaders  of  that  period,  a  frank  critic 
of  his  compeers,  if  somewhat  more  spicy 
than  the  rest ;  but  the  internal  disputes 
among  reformers  are  sometimes  quite  as 
interesting  as  the  reforms  themselves,  and 
we  need  to  know  the  limitations  of  our 
leaders  by  their  judgments  of  one  another. 


II 

THE   OLD   SALEM    FAMILIES 

"Those  that  love  their  owne  chimney  corner  and  dare  not 
go  farre  beyond  their  own  townes  end  shall  never  have  the 
honour  to  see  these  wonderfull  workes  of  Almighty  God."  — 
Francis  Higginson,  on  his  voyage  to  America  in  ibsg. 


THE  OLD  SALEM  FAMILIES 

ONE  of  the  most  important  steps  in 
human  progress  thus  far  taken  by 
the  American  nation  lies  clearly 
in  its  establishment  of  a  new  standard  of 
ancestry.  For  instance,  the  earliest  dis- 
tinctly known  ancestress  of  the  Higginson 
family,  whether  of  the  English  or  New 
English  branch,  was  the  widow  Joane 
Higginson.  It  is  nearly  three  and  a  half 
centuries  since  this  English  widow  be- 
queathed, by  her  last  will  and  testament, 
seven  pounds  a  year  to  the  poor  of  Berkes- 
well.  County  Warwick.  A  source  more 
honorable  for  a  family  stock  could  hardly 
be  demanded;  the  very  smallness  of  the 
sum,  tried  by  the  standards  of  to-day, 
making  her  act  simpler  and  more  digni- 
fied. It  is  from  her  that  is  also  descended 
the  English  line  of  the  family,  of  which 
[     9     ] 


STEPHEN   HIGGINSON 

Major-General  Sir  George  Wentworth 
Higginson,  K.  C.  B.,  of  the  Grenadier 
Guards,  is  the  representative. 

I  wish  to  write  a  memoir  of  the  widow 
Joane's  descendant  in  the  seventh  genera- 
tion, Stephen  Higginson,  my  grandfather, 
a  member  of  the  Continental  Congress, 
that  body  which  preceded  and  at  length 
established  the  American  Union.  The 
widow  Joane  was  mother  of  the  Rev. 
John  Higginson,  who  was  Vicar  of  Clay- 
brooke,  Leicester,  England,  for  fifty-three 
years.  She  was  grandmother  of  the  Rev. 
Francis,  the  immigrant,  who  graduated, 
like  his  father,  at  Jesus  College,  Cam- 
bridge, England,  and,  like  his  father, 
preached  at  Claybrooke,  but  came  to 
Salem  in  1629,  and  was  the  first  English 
clergyman  ordained  on  American  soil. 

The  Rev.  Francis  Higginson  wrote  in 

a  journal  of  his  voyage  in  1629:    "Those 

that  love  their  owne  chimney  corner  and 

dare  not  go  farre  beyond  their  own  townes 

[     10     ] 


i 


THE   OLD   SALEM   FAMILIES 

end  shall  never  have  the  honour  to  see 
these  wonderfuU  workes  of  Almighty 
God."  '  The  voyage  from  whose  narrative 
this  is  quoted  began  on  April  25,  1629, 
and  lasted  six  weeks.  Francis  Higginson 
died  within  a  year  after  arrival  and  was 
followed  in  the  ministry  at  Salem  by  his 
eldest  son,  the  Rev.  John  Higginson,  who 
had  been  bred  to  the  ministry,  but  became 
a  teacher  in  the  grammar  school  at  Hart- 
ford, and  then  chaplain  at  the  fort  at  Say- 
brook,  Connecticut,  where  he  was  assist- 
ant pastor  to  the  Rev.  Henry  Whitfield, 
whose  daughter  he  married,  the  wedding 
taking  place  in  an  old  stone  mansion  still 
standing  and  now  the  oldest  house  within 
the  original  limits  of  the  United  States. 
His  mother  having  lately  died,  he  was 
about  removing  to  London,  in  1659,  to 
settle  her  estate,  when  the  vessel  which 

'  Life  of  Francis  Higginson,  p.  47.  A  full  narrative  of  this 
preacher's  career  may  be  found  in  ray  life  of  him  in  Makers 
of  America.   New  York,  Dodd,  Mead  &  Co. 

[   "    ] 


STEPHEN   HIGGINSON 

bore  himself  and  family  was  driven  by 
stress  of  weather  into  Salem  harbor. 
There  he  was  persuaded  to  remain  and 
take  charge  of  the  church  founded  by  his 
father,  thirty  years  before.  He  was  or- 
dained in  August,  1660,  and  remained  in 
continuous  service  until  December  9, 
1708,  winning  for  himself  the  title  of 
"the  Nestor  of  the  New  England  clergy." 
The  eldest  son  of  this  saintly  man  was 
also  named  John  (2),  and  was  born  at  Guil- 
ford, Connecticut,  in  1646;  was  educated 
a  merchant,  was  lieutenant-colonel  of  the 
regiment  in  Salem,  led  expeditions  against 
the  Indians,  and  was  a  member  of  the 
Governor's  Council.  Another  son,  Nathan- 
iel, also  born  in  Guilford,  graduated  at 
Harvard  in  1670,  and  went  to  England, 
and  afterwards  to  the  East  Indies,  where 
he  was  governor  of  the  royal  factory  at 
Madras.  Some  fine  old  family  pictures 
painted  for  him  are  now  in  my  possession. 
A  third  John  (3)  was  a  registrar  of  probate 
[     12     ] 


o   7 


U     CO 


THE   OLD   SALEM   FAMILIES 

in  Salem.  His  son  Stephen  ('^^  was  one 
of  the  leading  merchants  of  Salem,  took 
an  active  part  in  the  establishment  of 
the  town,  and  was  thus  commemorated, 
after  his  death,  by  the  "  Boston  News 
Letter  : "  — 

Salem,  October  15th,  1761. 
On  Monday  the  12th  Instant  died  at 
Newbury,  and  this  Day  was  decently  in- 
terred here,  Stephen  Higginson,  Esq;  of 
this  Town.  He  was  in  Commission  for  the 
Peace,  and  a  Justice  of  the  Court  of  Pleas 
for  this  County,  and  a  Member  of  the  Hon- 
orable House  of  Representatives.  A  Gen- 
tleman of  a  truly  amiable  Character,  both 
in  public  and  private  Life;  as  he  was  a 
tender  and  instructive  Father,  a  kind  and 
loving  Husband,  a  sincere  and  steady 
Friend,  an  accurate  Merchant ;  and  re- 
tained an  unblemished  Character,  thro'  the 
whole  of  his  Trade  and  Business,  which 
was  extensive.  A  Person  of  strict  Virtue 
and  Religion,  but  free  from  shew  and  os- 

[    n   ] 


STEPHEN   HIGGINSON 

tentation,  which  he  always  abhorred.  As 
few  Persons  exceeded  him  in  useful  Know- 
ledge and  Capacity  to  serve  the  Public,  so 
he  was  second  to  no  Man  in  the  Upright- 
ness of  his  Intentions,  the  Sincerity  of  his 
Declarations  and  Integrity  of  his  Actions. 
These  Virtues  being  very  conspicuous  in 
him,  rendered  him  a  Gentleman  of  a  rising 
Character,  and  his  Death  may  be  justl}^ 
esteemed,  not  only  a  private  but  a  public 
Loss.' 

Stephen  Higginson,  Second  (5)^  the  sub- 
ject of  this  work,  had  thus  for  his  lineal 
ancestors  on  the  father's  side  a  line  con- 
sisting of  three  clergymen,  a  member  of  the 
Governor's  Council,  a  notary  public,  and 
a  justice  of  the  Court  of  Common  Pleas. 
His  mother  was  Elizabeth,  daughter  of  John 
and  Anna  (Orne)  Cabot,  he  being  thus  by 
maternal  inheritance  connected  with  one 
or  two  Salem  families  also  prominent  and 

*  Boston  News  Letter,  October  22,  1761. 
[     H     ] 


THE   OLD   SALEM   FAMILIES 

prolific  who  were  repeatedly  intermarried 
with  the  Higginsons  ;  as  were  also  the 
Lees,  Jacksons,  and  others.  He  was  born 
on  November  28,  1743,  went  to  the  Salem 
schools,  and  was  then  brought  up  as  a 
merchant  in  the  counting-room  of  Deacon 
Smith  of  Boston.  It  seems  quite  probable 
that  he  may,  like  his  cousin,  George  Cabot, 
have  made  a  voyage  or  two  as  cabin-boy, 
in  accordance  with  a  custom  then  prevail- 
ing in  the  mercantile  households  of  Salem. 
This  seems  probable  in  view  of  the  fact  that 
on  his  marrying,  at  twenty-one  (in  1764), 
Susan,  daughter  of  Aaron  and  Susanna 
(Porter)  Cleveland,  a  second  cousin  of 
his,  residing  in  Connecticut,  he  at  once 
became  a  supercargo  and  then  a  navigator, 
voyaging  to  England,  Spain,  and  else- 
where, as  part  owner.  It  is  known  that 
his  family  disapproved  of  this  marriage, 
either  on  the  ground  of  relationship  or  of 
his  youth,  and  this  may  be  the  reason  why 
the  rash  young  couple  went  to  Portsmouth, 
[     '5     ] 


STEPHEN   HIGGINSON 

New  Hampshire,  to  be  wedded,  where 
they  received  from  Governor  Wentworth 
a  marriage  certificate  peculiar  enough  to 
be  quoted  entire,  as  follows  : — 

By  His  Excellency  Benning  Wentworth 
Esq,  Captain  General  Governor  &  Com- 
mander in  Cheif  in  &  over  His  Majes- 
ty's Province  of  New  Hampshire 
To  Either  of  the  Ordain'd  Ministers  of 
the  Gospel  of  said  Province  Except  one 
Drowne 

You  are  hereby  Authorized  and  Im- 
power'd  to  join  together  in  Holy  Matri- 
mony 

STEPHEN   HIGGINSON   & 
SUSANNA  CLEVELANDE 

Unless  some  Lawfull  Impediment  ap- 
pears to  you  to  the  Contrary 

Given  at  Portsmouth  the  20th  day  of 
Octobere  1764 

B  Wentworth 

Rece'd  13/6  Sterling  for  the  above  Liscence 

S  Atkinson  Jun  Secy 
[      16     ] 


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THE  OLD  SALEM   FAMILIES 

Mr.  Drowne,  the  subject  of  this  stern 
exclusion,  was  one  of  the  sect  called  by 
its  members  Independent  Congregational- 
ists,  but  by  its  opponents,  who  apparently 
included  Governor  Wentworth,  "  New 
Lights." 


Ill 

A  SEA-CAPTAIN    BEFORE 
PARLIAMENT 

{^775) 

"From  Salem,  in  Massachusetts  Bay;  a  Merchant."  — 
Stephen  Higginson,  questioned  by  Edmund  Burke,  before  a 
Committee  of  Parliament  in  1771. 


A  SEA-CAPTAIN    BEFORE 
PARLIAMENT 

THE  newly  married  youth  estab- 
lished his  household  in  Salem, 
in  a  modest  dwelling  at  the  cor- 
ner of  Main  and  Central  streets,  nearly 
opposite  the  Lafayette  Coffee  House,  and 
soon  set  sail  on  his  first  voyage  to  Eng- 
land. He  introduced  himself  to  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Cabot,  of  London,  kinsmen  of  his, 
who  were  already  established  there,  and 
made  various  acquaintances  through  his 
father's  commercial  correspondents.  This 
led  ultimately  to  his  being  called  before 
a  committee  of  the  House  of  Commons  in 
1 77 1,  where  he  was  in  part  questioned  by 
Edmund  Burke,  in  company  with  "Billy" 
Rotch,  and  apparently  with  the  first  Josiah 
Quincy.  On  his  return  to  this  country,  he 
was  vehemently  attacked  at  Marblehead, 
[     21     ] 


STEPHEN   HIGGINSON 

and  even  brought  before  court  on  charge 
of  traitorous  conduct,  but  had  fortunately 
kept  a  copy  of  his  precise  answers,  and 
won  much  applause  when  he  produced 
them.  They  are  preserved  in  Force's  "Ar- 
chives," and  are  well  worth  reprinting  here 
also,  as  giving  a  good  exhibition,  almost 
unique,  of  the  mercantile  conditions  pre- 
vailing at  the  time.  They  throw  a  curious 
light,  for  instance,  on  the  jealousies  exist- 
ing thus  early  between  New  England  and 
Nova  Scotia  on  the  presence,  at  that  early 
time,  of  considerable  numbers  of  Span- 
ish, Portuguese,  and  Dutch  at  Marblehead. 
They  also  throw  light  on  the  French 
fisheries  already  existing  in  Newfound- 
land, and  on  the  whale  fishery  at  Nan- 
tucket. 

Report  of  testimony  given  before  Parlia- 
ment by  Stephen  Higginson,  a  Salem, 
Mass.,  Shipmaster. 

^.  Of  what  country  is  he  ? 
[     22     ] 


BEFORE   PARLIAMENT 

A.  From  Salem,  in  the  Massachusetts 
Bay;  a  Merchant. 

^.  Whether  there  is  as  much  Corn  and 
other  Provisions  produced  in  that  Province 
as  will  supply  the  inhabitants? 

A.  Apprehend  not. 

^.  Whether  there  is  sufficient  Corn  and 
other  Provisions  produced  in  all  the  Netv 
England  Provinces  for  their  support.^ 

A,  No. 

^.  From  whence  do  they  receive  addi- 
tional support? 

A,  From  the  Carolinas,  Virginia, 
Maryland,  and  Nevj-Tork,  chiefly. 

^.  Whether  he  is  acquainted  with  the 
trade  of  the  Fisheries  carried  on  in  Netv 
England  f 

A.  Not  much  acquainted  with  the  Whale 
Fishery,  but  have  considerable  knowledge 
of  the  Cod  Fishery. 

^.  How  many  Vessels  are  employed  in 
the  Cod  Fishery? 

A.  About  seven  hundred  Vessels. 
[     23     ] 


STEPHEN   HIGGINSON 

^.  Of  what  burthen  are  they? 

A.  Five  hundred  of  them  estimated  from 
forty  to  seventy  tons;  the  other  two  hun- 
dred from  about  fifteen  to  forty. 

^.  How  many  hands  do  seven  hundred 
Vessels  carry? 

A.  On  an  average  they  carry  about  six. 

^.  How  many  hands  are  employed  on 
shore  for  the  Cod  Fishery? 

A.  About  half  the  number  are  employed 
in  curing  the  Fish  that  there  is  in  taking 
of  them. 

^.  How  many  Vessels  employed  in 
carrying  the  Fishery  to  market? 

A,  Should  imagine  about  three  hundred 
and  fifty,  from  seventy  or  eighty  tons,  to 
about  one  hundred  and  seventy  or  one 
hundred  and  eighty;  they  carry  about 
eight  hands,  one  with  another. 

^.  What  would  these  people  do  if  the 
Fishery  was  stopped? 

A.  I  can't  readily  resolve  that  question; 
suppose  they  would  remain  where   they 
[     24     ] 


BEFORE   PARLIAMENT 

are  as  long  as  they  could  subsist,  in  hopes 
of  being  engaged  in  their  old  employ- 
ment. 

^.  But  when  that  hope  failed,  and  they 
could  no  longer  subsist? 

A,  Then  they  will  probably  go  else- 
where. 

^.  Whether  they  would  settle  at  Hali- 
fax? 

A.  In  general,  I  think  not. 

^.  Why? 

A.  Several  reasons;  one  is,  the  Fisher- 
men in  Salem  and  other  Towns  are  a 
very  quiet  and  steady  set  of  men.  They 
esteem  the  people  of  Halifax  to  be  dis- 
solute, and  of  a  quite  contrary  turn.  I 
think,  therefore,  they  would  not  sit  down 
among  a  people  so  different  in  their  man- 
ners. Another  reason  is,  that  they  think 
the  Government  of  Halifax  is  arbitrary, 
and  have  a  terrible  notion  of  it.  Another; 
those  who  have  been  there,  have  disliked 
the  country  very  much,  as  being  inhospit- 
[     25     ] 


STEPHEN    HIGGINSON 

able,  and  affording  but  a  very  hard  and 
coarse  fare. 

^  Would  they  go  to  Miguelon  and 
St,  Pierre,  and  fish  for  France? 

A.  Don't  think  they  would  generally; 
from  Marblehead  some  perhaps  would. 

^.  Why  would  they  from  thence  ? 

A.  Because  the  people  there  are  of  va- 
rious nations,  Spaniards,  Po7'tuguese  and 
Dutch;  but  the  others  are  born  in  the 
Towns  where  they  live,  have  tenements 
and  freeholds  there,  and  would  not  leave 
their  place  of  abode,  I  conceive. 

^.  From  whence  do  the  Manufactures 
used  in  New  England  come? 

A.  I  suppose  from  Great  Britain. 

^.  How  do  they  pay  for  them? 

A.  By  the  proceeds  of  the  Whale  and 
Cod  Fisheries  chiefly. 

^.  Do  they  receive  Molasses  in  return 
for  Fish? 

A.  A  great  quantity. 

^.  What  do  they  do  with  it? 
[     26     ] 


BEFORE   PARLIAMENT 

A.  It  is  chiefly  manufactured  into  Rum; 
part  is  consumed  in  America,  and  part 
exported. 

^.  Are  the  Merchants  of  Massachusetts 
Bay  in  debt  to  Great  3ritain  ? 

A.  Certainly. 

^.  If  the  Fishery  is  stopped,  what  other 
means  of  paying  their  debts  ? 

A.  I  know  of  no  means  but  the  articles 
of  Pot  and  Pearl  Ash,  Lumber,  Furs,  Ships, 
and  Flaxseed. 

^.  What  would  that  be  in  comparison 
to  the  debts  ? 

A,  Very  small. 

^.  Whether,  supposing  the  Fishery 
stopped  in  New  England,,  and  allowed 
in  Nova  Scotia,  they  would  not  follow 
the  Fishery  in  Nova  Scotia  f 

A,  I  don't  think  they  would. 

^  Whether  there  is  not  a  constant 
export  of  Provisions  from  Nevj  England 
to  the  West  Indies? 

A.  There  is  from  Connecticut  and  the 
[     27     ] 


STEPHEN   HIGGINSON 

Massachusetts ;  they  export   Cattle   and 
other  live  stock. 

^.  Whether  Indian  Corn  is  not  ex- 
ported to  the   West  Indies  ? 

A.  Don't  know  that  there  is  any. 

^.  Is  not  Provisions  carried  to  New- 
foundland  f 

A.  They  supply  the  Newfoundland 
Fishery  considerably,  with  Rice,  Bread 
and  Flour. 

^.  Why  the  Spaniards  and  Portu- 
guese, of  Marblehead,  would  be  more 
afraid  of  going  to  Halifax,  than  to  Migue- 
Ion  and  St.  Pierre  f 

A.  I  don't  know  that  they  would. 

^  If  they  send  their  Fish  to  Spanish 
markets  this  year,  would  they  not  bring 
back  the  proceeds  to  America,  and  not  to 
Great  Britain? 

A.  I  imagine  the  proceeds  of  the  Fish 
would  centre  here  this  year  as  usual. 

Withdrew. 

Called  in  again. 

[     28     ] 


•■&' 


BEFORE    PARLIAMENT 

^.  Whether  the  Indian  Corn  and  Flour 
exported  from  the  Bay  for  the  Newfound- 
land Fishery,  is  not  imported  from  Caro- 
lina^ Pennsylvania^  and  New  Toi'kf 

A.  It  is.  The  Bread  and  Corn  exported 
to  Newfoufidland  Fishery,  is  not  one 
eighth  part  of  the  Corn  and  Flour  imported 
from  the  Southern  Colonies. 

^.  Is  not  part  of  the  Exports  to  Spain 
the  manufacture  of  New  England? 

A.  No. 

^.  Does  he  know  whether  the  Debt  due 
to  the  Merchants  of  Great  Britain  is  reg- 
ularly paid  or  not? 

A.  They  have  been  paid  with  less  punc- 
tuality for  the  four  or  five  years  last  past 
than  before. 

^.  To  what  do  you  attribute  that? 

A.  To  their  having  imported,  in  the 
years  1770,  1771,  and  1772,  more  Goods 
than  was  sufficient  for  their  market. 

^.  Do  the  merchants  of  E^igland  still 
continue  to  trust  the  Americans? 
[     29     ] 


STEPHEN   HIGGINSON 

A.  I  know  of  no  instance  of  their  having 
refused  to  give  them  credit. 

^.  Whether  this  Bill  will  enable  the 
Merchants  to  pay  their  debts  better  ? 

A.  Certainly  not.  The  alteration  will  be 
quite  the  reverse,  and  will  cut  off  the 
source  of  payment. 

^.  Does  he  understand  the  state  of  the 
French  Fishery  on  Neivfoundlandf 

A.  Not  particularly;  but  have  learn't 
from  our  Fishermen  that  they  have  of  late 
increased  it. 

^.  If  the  Fishery  from  Nevj  England 
was  stopped,  would  not  the  French  have 
a  part  of  it? 

A.  Suppose  they  might. 

^.  Is  he  acquainted  with  the  method  of 
the  French  Fishery? 

A.  Yes. 

^.  Do  the  French  fish  for  themselves, 
or  buy  it  of  the  Ne-vj  England  Fisher- 
men? 

A.  I  never  heard  of  their  buying  any. 
[     30     ] 


BEFORE   PARLIAMENT 

^.  Can  the  French  cure  the  Fish  as  well 
as  New  England  men  ? 

A.  I  don't  imagine  they  can;  for  the 
same  reason  that  the  Newfoundland  Fish 
is  not  so  well  cured,  the  climate  being 
more  subject  to  fogs. 

^.  Whether,  if  the  Provinces  are  re- 
strained from  fishing,  their  nets  would  not 
rot,  and  materials  become  unserviceable? 

A.  They  certainly  would  very  soon. 

^.  Whether,  if  this  Bill  takes  place,  the 
Provinces  would  be  in  distress  for  want 
of  Provisions.'' 

A.  I  imagine  they  will. 

^.  Whether  the  people  of  Nantucket 
who  follow  the  Whale  Fishery,  will  not 
be  ruined  by  its  being  stopped? 

A.  They  must  be  entirely  ruined. 

^.  Could  the  people  of  Great  Britain 
cure  the  Fish  as  well  as  the  New  Eng- 
land men  ? 

A.  They  may  as  dry,  but  the  quality  of 
the  fish  will  be  inferiour. 
[     31     ] 


STEPHEN   HIGGINSON 

^.  Is  there  not  a  Coast  Fishery  for  the 
supply  of  fresh  Fish  ? 

A.  A  vast  deal.  In  the  sea-ports  of 
Massachusetts  JBay,  quarter  of  the  people 
live  on  fresh  Fish. 

^.  Does  it  extend  to  the  four  Provinces  ? 

A.  Not  in  the  same  degree. 

^.  What  would  become  of  those  ar- 
ticles, Potash  &c.,  if  not  exported? 

A.  I  suppose  the  manufacture  of  Pot 
and  Pearl-ash  would  cease  till  the  trade 
opened  again. 

^.  Whether  the  Non  -  Exportation 
Agreement  would  not  affect  the  Mer- 
chants here,  as  much  as  the  Bill  ? 

A.  I  believe  not;  those  articles  being 
not  above  three  twentieths  of  the 
whole. 

^.  Does  he  know  any  thing  of  the  sale 
of  the  Fish  in  the  Spanish  Ports,  and  of 
the  consumption  inland? 

A.  Yes. 

^.  Whether  the  New  England  Fish 
[     32    ] 


BEFORE    PARLIAMENT 

is  sent  as  far  inland  as  the  Netvfoundland 
Fish? 

A.  The  early  spring  Fish  from  Nevj 
England  is  sent  further,  it  being  much 
tougher,  and  for  this  quality  a  much 
greater  price  is  given  than  for  the  New- 
foundland Fish. 

^.  Do  you  know  this  to  be  fact? 

A.  I  do. 

^.  Whether  Fish  cured  in  Newfound- 
land is  carried  to  Portugal^  and  thence 
to  the  Brazils  ? 

A.  Can't  say. 

^.  Whether  the  Non  -  Importation 
Agreement  will  not  prevent  their  sending 
Fish  to  the   West  India  Islands? 

A.  Apprehend  not. 

Withdrew.' 

*  Force's  Archives,  Fourth  Series,  i,  pp.  1645-48  (compare 
Felt's  Annals  of  Salem,  ii  (ed.  1849),  553). 


IV 

THE   QUARTER-DECK    IN 
POLITICS 

(1783) 


"  Give  me  a  spirit  that  on  this  life's  rough  sea 
Loves  to  have  his  sails  filled  with  a  lusty  wind." 

Tragedy  of  Charles,  Duke  of  Byron. 


THE  QUARTER-DECK  IN 
POLITICS 

I  HAVE  been  disappointed  to  find  among 
the  well-preserved  documents  of  the 
Essex  Institute  at  Salem  so  little 
about  the  details  of  Salem  commerce  be- 
fore the  Revolution,  this  proceeding  from 
the  fact  that  the  records  of  the  custom- 
house were  generally  removed  at  this  last 
period.  The  only  authentic  record  which 
I  have  obtained  is  that  in  1772  "  Capt. 
Stephen  Higginson  brought  home  a  bell 
of  about  900  lbs.  for  the  North  church 
and  another  of  590  lbs.  for  the  East  church. 
The  latter  sold  their  old  bell  of  217!^  lbs. 
to  Harvard  College  at  J  lb.  and  it  was 
transported  thither."  '  It  is  perhaps  amus- 
ingly suggestive  of  the  clerical  traditions 
of  the  family  at  that  early  day  that  this 

*  Felt's  Annals  of  Salem,  i  (ed.  1845),  3^7- 

[     37     ] 


STEPHEN  HIGGINSON 

only  definitely  recorded  service  should  be 
for  the  churches,  and  in  a  subsidiary  way 
that  he  should  have  ultimately  rendered 
service  to  Harvard  College,  with  which 
institution  the  pursuits  and  fortunes  of  his 
descendants  have  been  so  closely  inter- 
twined. What  is  certain  is  that  these 
voyages  continued  more  or  less  regularly 
up  to  the  time  of  the  American  Revolution, 
and  were  generally  followed  by  privateer- 
ing under  the  same  or  different  officers 
during  that  whole  period.  Thus  Stephen 
Higginson's  only  brother,  Henry  (born 
December  14,  1747,  and  died  unmarried), 
commanded  privateers  in  1782,  namely, 
the  brig  Joseph,  carrying  eight  guns  and 
fifteen  men,  and  the  brig  Swallow,  with 
six  guns  and  twenty  men.' 

'  See  Captain  Preble's  "  Notes  on  Early  Ship-Building  in 
Massachusetts,"  New  England  Historical  and  Genealogical 
Register  (January,  1872,  pp.  21,  27).  Henrj'  Higginson  was  one 
of  eighty-one  volunteers  from  Salem  for  the  Rhode  Island 
expedition.  They  reached  Rhode  Island  August  16,  1778, 
fought  and  retreated,  finding  themselves  unsupported  by  the 

[       38      ] 


QUARTER-DECK  IN   POLITICS 

The  War  of  the  Revolution  once  over, 
the  Salem  merchants  sought  for  wider  and 
wider  adventure.  Joseph  Peabody  lived 
to  own,  first  and  last,  eighty-three  ships, 
which  he  freighted  himself  ;  he  shipped 
about  seven  thousand  seamen,  and  pro- 
moted forty-five  men  to  be  captains  who 
had  first  shipped  with  him  as  boys.  Other 
merchants,  of  whom  Elias  Hasket  Derby 
was  the  chief,  were  constantly  projecting 
distant  voyages,  and  taking  pains  to  bring 
forward  enterprising  young  men,  who  were 
given  ventures  of  their  own  as  captain  or 
supercargo.  These  were  often  the  sons  of 
shipowners,  and,  aided  by  the  excellent 
public  schools  of  Salem,  became  officers 
at  an  age  that  seems  surprisingly  early. 
Nathaniel  Silsbee,  the  eldest  son  of  a  sea- 
captain,  went  to  sea  as  captain's  clerk 
at  fourteen;   his  brother  William  did  the 

French  fleet  {Essex  Institute  Collections,  i,  113).  Henry  Hig- 
ginson  was  also  deputy  in  the  Massachusetts  Legislature 
(f"elt's  Annals  of  Salem,  ii  (ed.  1849),  S^S)- 

[     39     ] 


STEPHEN   HIGGINSON 

same  at  fifteen,  and  his  brother  Zacha- 
riah  at  sixteen.  The  eldest  brother  was 
in  command  of  a  vessel  for  a  nineteen- 
months  voyage  before  he  was  nineteen, 
and  the  two  others  before  they  were 
twenty.  All  three  retired  from  the  sea 
when  under  twenty-nine.  Captain  Na- 
thaniel Silsbee  had  sailed  one  East-India 
voyage  of  nineteen  months,  at  the  begin- 
ning of  which  neither  he  nor  his  first  mate 
(Charles  Derby)  nor  his  second  mate 
(Richard  Cleveland)  was  twenty  years 
old.  Stephen  Higginson  commanded  one 
of  his  father's  ships  at  twenty-one.  His 
double-first  cousin,  George  Cabot,  —  after- 
ward the  first  Secretary  of  the  Navy,  and 
the  president  of  the  Hartford  Convention, 
—  left  Harvard  College  and  went  to  sea 
at  sixteen  as  cabin-boy  under  his  brother- 
in-law,  Joseph  Lee  ;  the  traditional  opin- 
ion expressed  in  the  family  being  that 
"  Cap'n  Joe  would  put  George  Cabot's 
nose  to  the  grindstone,"  which  was  doubt- 
[     40     ] 


// 


// 

A 


^^ 


tTtt,^    C? i'-?■^-^/v-r■^A'. 


Oco-mi       n      -^/^.'^^ 


QUARTER-DECK   IN   POLITICS 

less  done.  At  twenty,  Cabot  was  himself 
a  captain.  In  the  slower  developments  of 
the  present  day,  there  is  something  amus- 
ing in  this  carnival  of  youth. 

A  type  of  character  so  strong  as  that  of 
the  old  Salem  sea-captains  could  not  well 
pass  away  in  America  without  making  its 
final  mark  on  the  politics  as  well  as  the 
business  of  the  nation.  In  the  fierce  strife 
between  the  Federalists  and  the  Demo- 
crats, these  men  not  only  took  the  Feder- 
alist side  as  a  body,  but  for  a  time  they 
gave  a  name  to  it.  Salem  was  Federalist 
and  the  headquarters  of  Federalism  was 
Salem.  The  strength  of  that  strong  party 
was  in  the  merchants  of  Essex  County, 
most  of  whom  had  been  shipmasters  in 
their  youth.  The  name  familiarly  given  to 
the  party  was  "  Essex  Junto."  Timothy 
Pickering  wrote  in  a  letter  in  1808'  that 
the  first  time  he  heard  this  phrase  was 

*  Henry  Adams's  Documents  Relating  to  New  England  Fed- 
eralism {'Qoston,  1877),  p.  369. 

[      41       ] 


STEPHEN   HIGGINSON 

from  President  John  Adams  as  late  as 
1797,  and  that  the  three  men  whom  he 
named  as  heading  the  clique  were  George 
Cabot,  Stephen  Higginson,and  Theophilus 
Parsons  ;  in  other  words,  two  ex-sea- 
captains  and  the  chief  maritime  lawyer  of 
his  time. 

The  habit  of  the  quarter-deck,  in  fact, 
went  all  through  the  Federalist  party  of 
Massachusetts.  The  slaveholders  them- 
selves did  not  more  firmly  believe  that 
they  constituted  the  nation.  To  the  "  Es- 
sex Junto,"  Jefferson  himself  seemed  but 
a  mutineering  first  mate,  and  his  "  rights 
of  man  "  but  the  black  flag  of  a  rebellious 
crew.  They  paid  the  penalty  of  their  own 
autocratic  habits  ;  they  lived  to  see  their 
cause  lost  ;  but  they  went  down  with  their 
flags  flying,  having  had  the  satisfaction  — 
if  satisfaction  it  was —  to  see  much  of  their 
cargo  of  political  principles  transferred 
bodily  to  the  hold  of  their  victor. 

In  the  early  part  of  the  Revolutionary 
[    42     ] 


QUARTER-DECK   IN   POLITICS 

War,  Stephen  Higginson  turned  his  ener- 
gies, like  most  Salem  sea-captains  and 
shipowners,  to  privateering;  he  was  cred- 
ited with  having  made  by  this  pursuit  the 
sum  of  $70,000,  or  at  least  this  was  the 
opinion  of  his  nephew  and  friend,  John 
Lowell.  In  1778  he  removed  from  Salem 
to  Boston,  and  became  the  partner  of  his 
kinsman,  Jonathan  Jackson,  was  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Massachusetts  Legislature  in 
1782,  and  was  elected  thence  to  the  Colo- 
nial Congress  on  October  2,  1782.  During 
all  this  intermediate  period  I  can  find  no 
letters  from  him,  either  at  the  Salem  Athe- 
naeum or  among  those  published  by  Mr. 
Jameson,'  which  go  back  earlier  than  1783 ; 
and  have  none  in  my  own  possession  save 
the  two  following,  which,  though  wholly 
commercial,  are  illustrative  of  the  period. 
Both  are  addressed  to  his  brother-in-law, 
Stephen  Cleveland,  then  in  command  or 
on  board  of  the  brig  Despatch,  at  Bor- 

'  American  Historical  Ass'n's  Report  iox  1896,  i,  704-841. 

[     43     ] 


STEPHEN  HIGGINSON 

deaux,  buying  arms  and  munitions  of  war 
for  the  Continental  Army.  At  the  time 
when  these  letters  were  written,  their 
author  was  thirty-five  years  of  age. 

BiLBOA,  Nov.  22,  1776. 
De  Steph — 

I  have  been  waiting  here  10  days  for 
aBan*  to  sail,  which  has  given  me  an 
opp'y  of  hearing  of  your  arrival  at  Bour- 
deaux  —  Wish  you  had  wrote  me  a  Line 
when  my  Letters  by  you  was  forwarded 
to  me  —  have  not  heard  one  word  from 
Lucy  since  I  left  home  —  I  am  not  very 
well  at  present  &  should  my  Vessel  sail 
before  I  feel  better  I  may  perhaps  stay 
behind  —  pray  write  me  immediately,  let 
me  know  what  sort  of  a  Vessel  you  have 
when  you  will  probably  sail  &c,  perhaps  I 
may  go  home  with  you  —  your  Friend  &c 

S.  HiGGINSON. 

'  From  MS.     I  have  tried  in  vain  to  discover  from  old  sea- 
faring men  what  this  phrase  "  aBan  "  or  "  a  Ban  "  signifies. 

[     44     ] 


*^  .M^o^'j^^^.^'C    !ii<A^n^^.^€€,c^^i,.^  /t/^^^^'tk^  Z*^^  ^y^^Xy 


QUARTER-DECK   IN   POLITICS 

BiLBOA,    Novf  26.   1776. 

D»  Steph. 

I  this  moment  reed,  yours  &  Harry's 
from  Bordeaux  —  Am  very  glad  to  hear 
that  Susy  &  all  our  friends  are  well.  Wish 
you  had  accepted  Mr  Hooper's  offer  in- 
stead of  this,  altho'  you  are  now  on  a  good 
lay  —  yet  the  other  would  be  more  perma- 
nent S  is  one  of  the  best  employs  I  know 
of.  Had  I  reC?  yours  at  the  time  I  rec^ 
those  you  brought  for  me  from  home, 
should  have  stayed  and  gone  home  with 
you,  for  I  am  now  very  unwell,  tho'  better 
than  I  have  been,  but  am  just  now  going 
down  to  Portogalette,  where  the  vessel  has 
been  ten  days  wayting  a  Ban  &  the  pilot 
says  we  shall  certainly  sail  at  4  in  the 
morning 

George  Cabot  sailed  four  weeks  ago  with 
S^  Barb,  at  the  time  John  Lee  &  Fletcher 
sailed  —  Birchmore  also  sails  in  his  Brigt 
in  C?  with  us  —  with  him  go  John  Cabot, 
Babson,  Rappel  &  Tittle  of  M'head  —  We 
[    45    ] 


STEPHEN   HIGGINSON 

have  this  day  certain  advice  that  there 
is  a  Frigate  cruising  off  Cape  Pinas  and 
another  off  Ortegal  —  hope  We  shall  avoid 
them  —  Candles  will  sell  here  at  9  to  10 
rials  P  M,  Holland  offers  the  best  market 
for  them,  I  am  now  shipping  200  Boxes  to 
Mr  John  Hodshon  at  Amsterdam,  that 
Collyer  brought  out —  If  Harry  is  not  gone, 
give  my  love  to  him  &  tell  him  I  rec? 
Birmingham's  balance  and  have  laid  it  out 
in  Hank'fs,  but  can  do  nothing  with  John 
Cabot,  as  he  is  below  on  board  the  vessel  & 
will  sail  in  the  morning  —  Am  glad  Harry 
has  got  the  vessel,  hope  you  will  both  get 
home  safe — My  respects  to  Mes?  French  & 
Co.  have  not  time  to  write  them  now  &  to 
Me?  Poncett  &  Maynard  if  you  know  them. 
Your  friend  &  hum^  Servant 

S.  HiGGINSON 


p.  S.  Pot  ashes  are  not  used  here  I  be- 
lieve, &  therefore  no  market  for  it.' 

'  From  MSS. 


V 

THE  CONTINENTAL  CONGRESS 

(1783) 

"The  Congress  [of  Vienna]  does  not  walk,  but  it  dances." 
—  Prince  de  Ligne. 


THE  CONTINENTAL  CONGRESS 

STEPHEN  Higginson's  near  kinsman 
and  lifelong  friend,  John  Lowell, 
says  of  him  that  he  was  as  much 
out  of  office  throughout  life  as  so  able  a 
man  could  be.  There  was  indeed  one  an- 
ecdote of  his  having  gone  hastily  on  board 
one  of  his  own  vessels,  and  having  put  out 
to  sea,  in  order  to  get  rid  of  persuasion  to 
accept  a  nomination.  His  partner,  Jonathan 
Jackson,  had,  however,  been  a  member  of 
Congress  about  the  year  1782;  while  Ste- 
phen Higginson  had  been  a  member  of  the 
State  Legislature  from  Boston  in  1782,  and 
an  election  to  Congress  had  followed  after. 
He  was  chosen  on  October  24,  1782,  to 
serve  for  one  year  from  the  first  Monday 
in  November,  though  he  did  not  actually 
take  his  seat  until  February  27,  1783.  It 
was  a  common  thing  among  the  delegates 
[     49     ] 


I 


STEPHEN   HIGGINSON 

to  arrange  among  themselves  the  periods 
of  their  attendance.' 

The  historian  Hildreth  says  of  the  Con- 
tinental Congress:  "  History  knows  few- 
bodies  so  remarkable.  The  Long  Parlia- 
ment of  Charles  I,  the  French  National 
Assembly,  are  alone  to  be  compared  with 
it." ""  Yet  its  inadequacy  came  gradually 
to  be  so  marked,  as  time  went  on,  from 
its  lack  of  established  legal  authority,  that 
the  average  attendance  amounted  in  1783 
to  only  twenty  persons.  Even  under  these 
conditions  it  is  curious  to  observe  how 
precisely  the  relative  positions  of  Massa- 
chusetts and  South  Carolina,  on  the  sub- 
ject of  slavery,  were  the  same  as  now. 
In  the  Continental  Congress,  —  or  "  old 
Congress,"  as  it  was  long  called,  —  when 
on  the  first  of  April,  1783,  it  was  agreed 
to  count  only  three  fifths  of  the  slaves  as 
a  basis  for  taxation,  Massachusetts  could 

*  Austin's  Life  of  Elbridge  Gerry,  i,  411. 

=  Hildreth's  History  of  the  United  States,  iii,  547. 

[       50       ] 


THE  CONTINENTAL  CONGRESS 

not  be  brought  to  sanction  the  arrange- 
ment. Her  delegation  was  divided  — 
Messrs.  Osgood  and  Gorham  voting  "aye" 
and  Messrs.  Holten  and  Higginson  voting 
"  no."  Rhode  Island  voted  "  no  "  and  so 
did  one  of  the  four  members  of  Virginia. 
Georgia  was  not  present.  All  the  other 
states  and  delegates  voted  "aye."' 

The  last  year  of  the  Continental  Con- 
gress was  in  fact  a  period  of  transition  and 
all  signs  predicted  the  transfer  of  power 
to  some  organization  that  should  be  more 
sufficient  unto  itself.  The  States,  not  yet 
having  parted  with  their  independent  sov- 
ereignty, claimed  more  immediate  author- 
ity than  is  now  claimed  by  them;  as,  for 
instance,  when  they  not  merely  criticised 
the  action  of  their  delegates  but  demanded 
in  some  cases  a  fortnightly  report  of  their 
proceedings.     In    other    words,   they  re- 

*  Journal  of  Congress,  viii,  171, 172 ;  Upham's  Speech  (Mass. 
Legislature), February  20,  1849,  P-  '■Si  Cnrtis^s  JItstory  of  the 
Constitution,  i,  213  note. 

[    5.    ] 


STEPHEN   HIGGINSON 

garded  their  delegates  in  the  light  of  min- 
isters representing  wholly  independent 
sovereignties.  In  Stephen  Higginson's 
time,  this  complication  was  enhanced  by 
the  rather  touchy  and  imperious  temper- 
ament of  Elbridge  Gerry,  leader  of  his 
delegation.  One  of  Stephen  Higginson's 
first  acts  in  Congress  was  to  sign  a  pro- 
test with  his  colleagues,  Holten  and 
Gorham,  in  their  capacity  as  delegates  in 
Congress  from  the  State  of  Massachusetts, 
against  the  denial  to  their  colleague,  Mr. 
Gerry,  of  his  right  of  calling  for  the  ayes 
and  nays,  —  a  question  of  order  which  had 
led  to  Gerry's  resignation  '  of  his  seat  and 
had  kept  him  away  from  Congress  for 
nearly  three  3^ears.  Again,  a  committee 
of  correspondence  had  been  appointed  in 
Massachusetts,  to  which  committee  Mr. 
Gerry  had  addressed  a  letter  in  behalf  of 
the  delegates,  explaining  the  injustice  to 
Massachusetts   in   the   appointment   of   a 

*  Austin's  Life  of  Elbridge  Gerry,  i,  324. 
.[      52      ] 


ELBRIDGE    GERRY 


THE  CONTINENTAL  CONGRESS 

sinking  fund  to  redeem  bills  of  credit/ 
This  letter  was  never  communicated  to 
the  Legislature,  a  fact  of  which  Stephen 
Higginson  writes  to  Mr.  Gerry: "  The  sup- 
pression of  our  letter  has  produced  a  great 
fermentation.  It  has  much  hurt  our  friend 
Mr.  S.  Adams,  and  has  ruined  Mr.  Apple- 
ton's  public  course,"  Mr.  Appleton  having 
claimed  to  have  put  it  in  his  pocket  and 
forgotten  it.  This  was  voted  unsatisfac- 
tory and  he  was  not  reelected.  "  I  thought 
it  very  imprudent  and  unfair  in  them," 
Higginson  continues,  "and  told  them  so; 
but  they  were  afraid  it  would  hurt  their 
darling  child,  the  Continental  Impost  Bill. 
Many  of  the  members  say,  that  had  it  not 
been  suppressed  the  act  would  not  have 
passed."  ^  Mr.  Adams  alleged  as  his  excuse 
the  pressure  of  business  upon  him  as  Pres- 
ident of  the  Senate,  and  the  recent  exami- 

'  Austin's  Life  of  Elbridge  Gerry,  i,  412-414;    Staples's 
Rhode  Island,  489. 

'  Austin's  Life  of  Elbridge  Gerry,  i,  414. 

[     53     ] 


STEPHEN   HIGGINSON 

nation  of  Mr.  Higginson  which  he  thought 
had  superseded  the  necessity  of  any  farther 
information.  It  seems  that  Mr.  Higginson 
had  just  been  personally  examined  before 
the  State  Legislature,  this  being  another 
instance  of  that  close  supervision  exer- 
cised by  the  States  over  the  Continental 
Congress. 

It  appears  from  the  Journal  of  Congress 
that  on  May  7,  1783,  a  committee  con- 
sisting of  Mr.  Higginson,  Mr.  Clarke,  and 
Mr.  Gervais,  to  whom  was  referred  a  mo- 
tion of  Mr.  Dyer,  reported :  — 

"That  such  of  the  States  as  have  set- 
tled with  the  officers  and  soldiers  of  their 
respective  lines,  for  their  pay  in  the  Army 
of  the  United  States  since  the  first  day  of 
August,  1780,  be  requested  to  exhibit  the 
accounts  of  such  payments,  with  proper 
vouchers,  shewing  the  periods  to  which 
they  have  settled  with  their  several  lines 
and  the  manner  in  which  such  payments 
were  made,  and  the  superintendant  of 
[     54     ] 


THE  CONTINENTAL   CONGRESS 

finance  is  hereby  directed,  upon  the  re- 
ceipt of  such  accounts,  vouched  as  afore- 
said, to  give  to  such  States  public  securi- 
ties, payable  in  the  same  manner  and  for 
the  same  sums  as  would  have  been  other- 
wise given  to  the  officers  and  soldiers  of 
such  lines  for  their  pay,  from  the  said  first 
day  of  August,  1780,  to  the  time  when  they 
were  so  paid  by  their  respective  States."  * 

All  New  England  members  voted 
"  aye "  on  this  resolution,  but  Southern 
members  generally  "  no,"  and  the  question 
was  lost. 

The  following  records  also  appear : 
August  II,  1783,  there  were  reports  by 
a  committee,  including  Mr.  Higginson, 
against  a  petition  from  John  Irwin  in  re- 
gard to  balance  of  pay.  August  12,  1783, 
a  committee,  consisting  of  Mr.  Higgin- 
son, Mr.  Clarke,  and  Mr.  Read,  reported 
recommending  a  vote  of  thanks  to  the 
inhabitants   of  New  Brunswick   [N.  J.]. 

'  Journal  of  Congress,  viii,  257. 

[     55     ] 


STEPHEN  HIGGINSON 

August  13,  1783,  Mr.  Higginson  voted 
against  postponement  of  a  motion  of  Mr. 
Howell  that  Congress  should  be  ad- 
journed to  meet  at  Philadelphia  on  the 
2ist   (that  is,  leaving  Princeton).' 

August  19,  1783,  he  voted  "aye"  on 
report  on  finance.  August  26, 1783,  Wash- 
ington visited  the  Congress. 

August  27,  1783,  Mr.  Higginson  voted 
"aye"  on  a  motion  of  Mr.  Ellery  as  to 
a  peace  establishment.  His  associate,  Mr. 
Holten,  voted  "  no,"  they  being  thus  di- 
vided, which  was  rare.  He  voted  on  sev- 
eral questions  of  routine  up  to  September 
10, 1783.  Later  than  this  he  several  times 
moved  or  seconded  successful  resolutions 
to  strike  out  passages  from  reports,  etc. 

On  September  13, 1783,  he  voted  against 
postponing  certain  resolutions,  and  the 
same  on  September  16,  18,  19,  and  20." 

In  the  separate  publication  called  "Secret 

'  Journal  of  Congress,  viii,  326-338. 
2  Ibid.,  332,  333,  336,  354. 

[       56       ] 


THE  CONTINENTAL   CONGRESS 

Journal"  of  Congress  there  appear  the 
following  references  to  the  participation 
of  Stephen  Higginson  in  the  Continental 
Congress. 

On  April  ii,  1783,  he  voted  to  approve 
the  proclamation  for  cessation  of  arms 
in  the  seventh  year  of  sovereignty  and 
independence.  On  May  5,  1783,  he  voted 
against  the  erasure  of  a  resolution  asking 
additional  loan  from  France.  (Resolution 
defeated.)  On  May  2 1,1783,  he  voted  "no" 
on  a  resolution  expressing  unwillingness 
to  become  a  party  to  a  new  confederacy 
with  Russia.  (Clause  struck  out.  Voted 
in  a  minority  on  two  subsequent  votes.) 
On  May  22,  1783,  his  vote  appears  several 
times  in  respect  to  instructions  to  Mr. 
Dana,  after  which,  on  motion  of  Mr.  Hig- 
ginson, it  was  ordered  that  a  committee  be 
appointed  to  prepare  and  report  a  plan  of 
a  commercial  treaty,  proper  to  be  trans- 
mitted to  Mr.  Dana.  The  members  chosen 
were  Mr.  Fitzsimmons,  Mr.  Higginson, 
[     57     ] 


STEPHEN   HIGGINSON 

and  Mr.  Rutledge.  September  25,  1783,  a 
committee  consisting  of  Mr.  Madison,  Mr. 
Higginson,  and  Mr.  Hamilton,  to  whom 
was  referred  a  letter  from  Dr.  Franklin  of 
the  15th  of  April  last,  reported  the  draft 
of  a  proclamation,  which  was  agreed  to, 
announcing  treaty  with  Sweden  (this  in 
Congress  at  Princeton).' 

On  September  26  and  29, 1 783,  his  name 
appears  on  several  important  committees, 
as,  for  instance,  under  date  of  Septem- 
ber 29,  1783.  The  committee  consisting 
of  Messrs.  Duane,  Rutledge,  Fitzsimmons, 
Gerry,  and  Higginson,  appointed  to  con- 
sider the  late  dispatches  from  the  ministers 
of  the  United  States  at  foreign  courts,  and 
to  determine  what  means  are  necessary  to 
be  taken  thereon,  reported  upon  six  points, 
all  of  which  were  sustained.^ 

His  name,  however,  does  not  appear  in 

"  The  full  text  of  this  treaty  appears  in  Journal  of  Congress, 

viii,  385- 

*  Secret  Journal  of  Congress,  iii,  323,  342,  344,  354,  394, 395, 

397-  n         ^       . 

[      58      ] 


THE   CONTINENTAL   CONGRESS 

the  voting  list  after  May  22,  1783,  but  it 
appears  occasionally  in  connection  with 
reports  prepared  at  the  homes  of  the 
respective  members.  Among  these  reports 
the  two  following,  kindly  furnished  me 
by  Worthington  C.  Ford,  Esq.,  Chief  of 
Division  of  Manuscripts  in  the  Library 
of  Congress,  are  hitherto  unpublished 
and  of  some  importance :  — 

"  Report  of  Mr.  Higginson,  Mr.  A.  Lee, 
Mr.  S.  Huntington.  On  Motion  respect- 
ing Secy  for  foreign  affairs,  office.  De- 
livered August  26, 1783.  Read.  Enf^  — 
March  2,  1784  Mr.  Remson  elected 
under  Secty  to  take  charge  of  papers." 

"The  Committee  to  whom  were  com- 
mitted the  motions  of  Mr.  Duane,  and  of 
Mr.  S.  Huntington  relative  to  the  Office 
for  foreign  Affairs  are  of  Opinion  that  it 
is  of  the  highest  importance  that  a  Sec- 
retary for  that  Office  should  be  elected, 
and  that  in  the  mean  time  that  papers  be- 
[     59     ] 


STEPHEN   HIGGINSON 

longing  thereto  should  be  so  disposed  of 
as  that  Congress  may  have  recourse  to 
them  when  occasion  shall  require  it  —  the 
following  Resolutions  are  submitted  — 

"  That  the  order  of  the  Day  for  electing 
a  Secretary  for  foreign  Affairs  be  called 
for  on  Thursday  next. 

"  That  a  Committee  be  appointed  forth- 
with, to  take  a  list  of  the  papers  belong- 
ing to  the  Office  for  foreign  Affairs  and 
to  deliver  them  when  listed  to  the  Sec- 
retary of  Congress,  who  shall  arrange  and 
take  care  of  them  untill  a  Secretary  for 
foreign  Affairs  shall  be  elected  and  ready 
to  enter  upon  the  Business  of  that  Office."  ' 

"  Report  of  Mr.  Higginson,  Mr.  Izard,  Mr. 
B.  Huntington  on  letter  of  Mr.  H.  Lau- 
rens of  17  June,  and  Mr.  Carmichael  of 
13  March,  1783.  Delivered  Sept.  i.  En- 
tered—  read.  This  is  superceded  by  the 
instructions  passed  Oct.  29  1783." 

From  the  MS.  Papers  of  the  Continental  Congress,  no  25, 
vol.  ii,  folio  247. 

[      60      ] 


THE   CONTINENTAL   CONGRESS 

"The  Committee  to  whom  were  com- 
mitted the  Letters  from  Mr.  Lawrence 
[Laurens]  and  Mr.  Carmichael  &c  &c, 
submit  the  following  resolutions. 

"That  Commissions  be  forthwith  pre- 
pared and  forwarded  to  John  Adams,  Ben- 
jamin Franklin,  John  Jay  and  Henry  Law- 
rence Esqrs  authorising  them  or  any  two 
or  more  of  them  to  negotiate  a  Treaty 
of  Amity  &  Commerce  with  the  Court  of 
great  Britain  upon  terms  of  the  most  per- 
fect re  [ci]  procity  and  so  as  to  render  the 
Trade  of  these  united  States  with  Britain 
and  her  Dominions  beneficial  and  respect- 
able—  the  Commercial  regulations  in  said 
Treaty  to  be  made  as  near  as  possible  in 
conformity  to  the  liberal  principles  con- 
tained in  the  Articles  proposed  by  the 
ministers  of  the  united  States  to  Mr.  Hart- 
ley on  the  29th  day  of  April  last  —  the 
Treaty  to  continue  for  the  Term  of  fifteen 
years  and  to  be  subject  to  the  revision 
of  Congress  previous  to  its  being  ratified. 
[    61     ] 


STEPHEN   HIGGINSON 

And  that  they  have  liberty  to  extend  the 
duration  of  such  commercial  regulations 
as  may  have  been  formed  with  Britain  to 
a  period  sufficiently  distant  for  revising 
and  ratifying  the  said  Treaty;  or  to  agree 
upon  new  Regulations  for  that  purpose  as 
they  shall  judge  most  expedient. 

"That  the  said  Commissioners  or  any 
one  or  more  of  them  be  authorised  to 
negotiate  with  the  Emperor  of  Morocco 
and  such  other  States  on  the  Coast  of 
Barbary  as  may  be  necessary,  for  pro- 
curing Passports  for  the  Vessels  of  the 
united  States,  and  to  apply  if  they  think 
it  expedient  to  such  of  the  Powers  in 
Europe  as  are  in  Amity  with  the  united 
States  for  their  assistance  in  such  nego- 
ciations. 

"  The  Committee  are  of  opinion  that 
Treaties  of  Amity  and  Commerce  should 
be  formed  with  the  Court  of  Portugal,  the 
Emperor  of  Germany,  the  King  of  Naples 
and  Sicily,  and  with  the  Grand  Duke  of 
.[     62     ] 


THE   CONTINENTAL   CONGRESS 

Tuscany  as    soon   as  circumstances   will 
permit. 

"  They  are  also  of  Opinion  that  Mr. 
William  McCormick  should  be  informed 
that  Congress  can  give  him  no  decisive 
Answer  upon  the  Subject  of  his  memo- 
rial, and  that  if  he  is  desirous  of  estab- 
lishing himself  in  his  Business  in  any  part 
of  the  united  States  he  must  apply  to  the 
Government  of  that  particular  State  in 
which  he  wishes  to  reside." ' 

*  From  the  MS.  Papers  of  the  Continental  Congress,  no.  19, 
vol.  iii,  folio  447. 


VI 

THE  ANNAPOLIS  CONVENTION 

(SEPTEMBER,   1786) 

"  A  meeting  of  gentle  lights  without  a  name." — Sir  John 
Suckling. 


THE  ANNAPOLIS  CONVENTION 

THE  following  letter  from  Stephen 
Higginson  to  John  Adams  has 
an  especial  interest  as  referring 
to  the  once  celebrated  Annapolis  Conven- 
tion (September  ii,  1786),  which  was, 
though  seemingly  abortive,  and  now  al- 
most forgotten,  a  distinct  step  in  the  mo- 
mentous transition  from  the  Articles  of 
Confederation  to  the  Constitution  of  the 
United  States. 

It  will  be  seen  by  this  letter  that  Stephen 
Higginson  was  one  of  the  proposed  dele- 
gates from  Massachusetts  to  Annapolis, 
not  one  of  whom,  however,  actually  at- 
tended; and  this  for  some  reason  not 
now  quite  clear.  The  same  was  true  of 
New  Hampshire,  Rhode  Island,  and  North 
Carolina,  all  of  which  States  had  gone 
[    67    ] 


STEPHEN   HIGGINSON 

through  the  form  of  appointing  delegates. 
Five  States  only  were  present  through 
commissioners,  these  being  Virginia, 
Delaware,  Pennsylvania,  New  Jersey,  and 
New  York.  The  fact  that  the  numbers 
were  so  few,  the  powers  of  several  dele- 
gations so  limited,  and  the  aspects  of 
things  so  alarming, —  since  Shays'  Rebel- 
lion was  just  impending, —  these  facts  ap- 
parently caused  the  convention  to  adjourn 
after  recommending  the  adoption  of  a 
plan,  drawn  up  by  Hamilton,  that  a  con- 
vention of  all  the  States  be  called  for  the 
purpose  of  rendering  "the  Constitution  of 
the  Federal  Government  adequate  to  the 
exigencies  of  the  Union." 

This  may  seem  an  unimportant  step,  yet 
it  led  to  the  Constitutional  Convention 
of  1787,  which  gave  the  nation  its  present 
mode  of  government.  It  will  be  seen 
that  the  letter  gives  us  the  point  of  view 
of  Stephen  Higginson. 

[     68     ] 


THE  ANNAPOLIS   CONVENTION 

TO  JOHN    ADAMS  ' 

Boston,  July,  1786. 
Sir: 

Your  obliging  letter  of  18  Feby  —  I 
duly  received,  to  me  it  is  extraordinary, 
that  having  a  common  Interest  in  a  com- 
mercial View,  and  a  Rival  in  France 
equally  dangerous  to  both,  no  Arrange- 
ments can  be  made  between  us  and  the 
British  for  our  mutual  safety  and  advan- 
tage, it  is  not  uncommon  for  Individuals 
to  sacrifice  their  Interest  to  gratify  their 
resentment;  but  it  does  not  often  happen 
that  States,  especially  such  as  have  had 
long  experience  in  the  School  of  politics, 
are  so  much  led  away  by  resentful  feel- 
ings, it  must  surely  be  much  against  their 
national  Interest  and  Character,  for  the 
British  to  suffer  the  most  important  na- 
tional advantages  to  be  transferred  from 
themselves  to  the  French,  when  possessed 

'American  Historical  Association  Report,  1896,  i,  733. 
[      69      ] 


STEPHEN   HIGGINSON 

of  the  means  of  preventing  it  with  the 
greatest  Ease.  —  It  is  very  unfortunate  for 
this  State,  that  the  narrow  policy  of  Bri- 
tain so  much  affects  our  two  Fisheries, 
which  are  our  principal  support,  take 
these  Staples  from  us,  and  the  Commerce 
of  Massachusetts  will  sink  to  almost  no- 
thing, there  is  no  State  in  the  Union 
which  suffers  in  any  degree  equal  to  this 
from  the  restrictions  of  Britain;  these  suf- 
ferings may  however  eventually  produce 
great  Good,  by  checking  habits  of  luxury 
and  dissipation,  and  teaching  us  the  neces- 
sity of  cultivating  those  of  an  opposite 
nature  —  we  shall  learn  by  experience 
that  to  be  independent  and  happy,  we 
must  be  industrious  and  frugal.  —  The 
Act  for  regulating  the  Trade  of  foreigners 
in  our  ports,  which  passed  the  last  year, 
was  adopted  with  great  Coolness  and  met 
with  much  Opposition  from  Country  Gen- 
tlemen. And  finding  that  the  States  have 
not  generally  adopted  similar  restric- 
[     70     ] 


THE   ANNAPOLIS   CONVENTION 

tions,  and  that  Rhode-Island  and  Hamp- 
shire '  have  repealed  their  Acts  of  Navi- 
gation, our  Court  have  this  Session  sus- 
pended ours.^  I  have  ever  approved  of 
the  general  principle  of  that  Act,  and 
wished  that  the  Object  of  it  might  be  at- 
tained j  but  convinced  that  many  of  the 
States  would  not  be  disposed  to  make  a 
general  restraining  System  and  persuaded 
that  partial  restrictions  could  not  produce 
the  desired  effect  upon  the  Conduct  of 
Britain,  I  at  first  doubted  the  propriety 
of  the  measure.  But  as  no  great  Evil  can 
result  from  its  continuance  till  the  Fall, 
to  prevent  the  appearance  of  versatility,  to 
keep  up  by  our  example  the  attention  of 
the  States  to  the  Subject,  and  to  enjoy  the 
credit  of  having  taken  the  lead,  in  case 
the  commercial  Convention  which  is  to  be 

'  By  act  of  February,  1786,  the  Rhode  Island  navigation  act 
was  suspended  until  Connecticut  should  pass  one. 

*  By  act  of  July  5,  1786,  Massachusetts  suspended  her  navi- 
gation act  till   the  other  States  should  pass  similar  statutes. 

[      71       ] 


STEPHEN   HIGGINSON 

held  in  September'  should  recommend  its 
being  made  a  general  System,  I  should 
not  have  gone  so  far  as  to  suspend  it. — 

The  ostensible  object  of  that  Convention 
is  the  regulation  of  Commerce;  but  when 
I  consider  the  men  who  are  deputed  from 
New- York,  Pennsylvania  and  Virginia,  and 
the  source  from  whence  the  proposition 
was  made,  I  am  strongly  inclined  to  think 
political  Objects  are  intended  to  be  com- 
bined with  commercial,  if  they  do  not  prin- 
cipally engross  their  Attention,  there  will 
be  from  New-Yorke  Mr.  Duane,  M*^  Ham- 
ilton, IVP  Chancellor  Livingstone,  from 
Pennsylvania  Mr.  Robert  Morris,  M'  Fitz- 
simmons,  M""  George  Clymer  from  Virginia 
Mr  Randolph,  Mr.  Madison,  Judge  Jones, 
and  several  others  from  those  States  of  like 
political  principles  and  characters,  the 
Measure  appears  to  have  originated  in 
Virginia  and  with  M'  Maddison.    the  Men 

'  The  Annapolis  Convention  (1786);  Higginson  was  chosen 
as  a  delegate,  but  declined  to  attend. 

[       72      ] 


THE  ANNAPOLIS  CONVENTION 

I  have  mentioned  are  all  of  them  esteemed 
great  Aristocrats,  and  their  Constituents 
know  that  such  is  their  Character  —  few  of 
them  have  been  in  the  commercial  line, 
nor  is  it  probable  they  know  or  care  much 
about  commercial  Objects.  — 

As  this  State  from  the  nature  and  vari- 
ety of  its  Trade,  is  more  likely  to  be  af- 
fected by  general  commercial  Arrange- 
ments, than  any  other  of  the  States,  some 
persons  have  been  appointed  to  represent  it 
in  the  proposed  Convention;  they  are  M" 
Lowell,  M'  Dana,  M"^  Gerry,  M'  Theo: 
Parsons,  Mr.  George  Cabot,  M"^  Sullivan 
and  myself.  If  it  be  practicable  to  effect 
a  general  regulation  of  Trade,  and  to  har- 
monise the  apparently  variant  Interests  of 
the  States,  it  will  probably  be  done  by  the 
Convention.  —  I  shall  be  very  happy  to 
have  it  effected,  as  we  may  then  make  an 
impression  upon  the  British  favorable  to 
our  Views;  but  this  I  rather  hope  than 
expect.  —  If  the  British  are  not  blind  to 
[     73     ] 


STEPHEN   HIGGINSON 

their  own  Interests,  or  unduly  wedded  to 
their  own  Opinions,  they  will  seriously 
view  the  Arrangements  of  France,  to  sup- 
ply us  with  their  Manufactures  and  receive 
our  Oil  and  Ashes  in  return  —  the  Object 
of  the  proposed  Convention,  and  the  dis- 
position in  their  States  from  which  it  re- 
sults, ought  also  to  engage  their  atten- 
tion.'— 

We  learn  from  the  Knox  papers,  pre- 
served in  such  admirable  shape  in  the 
library  of  the  "  New  England  Historic 
Genealogical  Society"  that  Massachusetts 
influences  were  brought  strongly  to  bear 
upon  Congress  in  order  to  increase  the 
troops  in  service  in  New  England  —  this 
being  accomplished  by  the  rumor,  devised 
by  somebody  and  spread  freely,  of  a  pro- 
spective Indian  war.    This  we  discover  by 

*  Austin's  Life  of  Elbridge  Gerry,  ii,  5,  gives  as  the  list  aj)- 
pointed  "  Lieut,  governour  Gushing,  Elbridge  Gerry,  Francis 
Dana  and  Stephen  Higginson." 

[     74     ] 


THE   ANNAPOLIS   CONVENTION 

a  letter  from  Knox  and  another  in  reply  to 
it  from  Stephen  Higginson.  The  Indian 
war,  apparently,  went  no  farther,  but  the 
increase  in  the  army  on  that  account  helped 
to  extinguish  the  danger  from  Shays'  Rebel- 
lion, while  only  increasing  the  solicitude 
which  was  preparing  the  way  for  the  formal 
union  of  the  Colonies  into  States.  The 
following  is  Knox's  letter:  — 

[to    STEPHEN    higginson] 

New  York  22  October  1786 
My  dear  Sir 

You  will  find  by  thenclosed  [^szc]  paper 
that  my  conjectures  about  the  Indian  war, 
were  right  —  Congress  were  so  with  the 
apprehension  that  they  have  with  great 
unanimity  resolved  to  augment  the  troops 
now  in  service  to  a  legionary  corps  of  2040 
non  commissioned  officers  and  privates. 

Although  the  dispositions  of  Congress  on 
this  occasion  are  perfect  yet  their  treasury 
is  poor  indeed.   Recourse  must  be  had  for 
[     75     ] 


STEPHEN   HIGGINSON 

the  immediate  exigencies  to  the  monied 
men.  The  board  of  treasury  will  devise 
some  plan  for  the  reembursement  of  the 
Losers  but  exertions  might  be  made  & 
something  might  be  hazarded,  by  the  rich. 
Knowing  your  zeal  for  Republic  wel- 
fare, and  your  knowledge  of  our  warm 
Boston  patriots  I  write  you  this  in  con- 
fidence that  you  may  be  making  some  ar- 
rangements in  your  own  mind  to  facilitate 
that  application  [illegible] 
I  am  my  dear  Sir 

with  respect  &  esteem 

Your  very  humble  Svt 
H  Knox  ' 

This  letter  was  answered  as  follows:  — 

Boston  Nov''.  i3.  1786 
My  dear  Sir 

Your  Letter  22^  ult:  by  Capt.  north  I 
rec.'*  the  news  was  proper,  upon  the  view 
of  a  War  with  the  Indians  &  the  con- 
sequent requisition  of  Congress,  obtained 

'  Knox  Papers,  xix,  31. 
[       76       ] 


GENERAL    HENRY    KNOX 


THE   ANNAPOLIS   CONVENTION 

very  speedily  &  with  more  ease  than  I  ex- 
pected, you  have  in  this  case  taken  the 
best  ground,  the  money  wanted  for  the 
men  will,  I  trust,  be  soon  raised,  the  Trea- 
surer has  just  opened  his  Loan;  &  though 
monied  men,  like  others,  are  more  ready 
at  profession  than  action,  yet,  I  think  their 
feelings  &  a  regard  to  their  beloved  pro- 
perty will  induce  them  to  furnish  what  is 
immediately  wanted.  —  The  present  mo- 
ment is  very  favorable  to  the  forming  fur- 
ther &  necessary  arrangements,  for  increas- 
ing the  dignity  &  energy  of  Government, 
what  has  been  done,  must  be  used  as  a 
Stock  upon  which  the  best  Fruits  are  to 
be  ingrafted,  the  public  mind  is  now  in 
a  fit  State,  &  will  shortly  I  think  become 
more  so,  to  come  forward  with  a  System 
competent  to  the  great  purpose  of  all  Civil 
arrangements,  that  of  promoting  &  securing 
the  happiness  of  Society,  as  far  as  I  can 
be  conducive  to  a  right  improvement  of 
this  disposition,  so  very  favorable  an  open- 
[     11    ] 


STEPHEN   HIGGINSON 

ing  shall  not  be  lost.  —  I  saw  Capt.  north 
but  a  moment,  I  intended  a  private  mo- 
ment with  him,  but  I  was  by  many  incon- 
venient circumstances  deprived  of  it.  I 
have  to  know  what  passes  in  the  World, 
but  I  had  at  this  moment  rather  not  appear 
to  know  it.  —  I  will  inform  you  how  things 
go  on  &  shall  be  gratified  by  any  proper 
communications.  With  respect  I  have  the 
honor  to  be  Sir 

Your  very  humb  Serv*^ 
S:  H:  — 
P.  S.    shall  I  pray  you  to  forward 
the  inclosed  to  Princeton  (?).' 


[Note]  .  —  The  subject  of  the  Annapolis  Con- 
vention having  been  passed  by  with  so  little  notice 
the  following  list  of  casual  references  to  it  may  well 
be  quoted  from  Barry's  History  of  Massachusetts .^ 
Commonwealth  Period  [vol.  iii] ,  366,  267:  — 

Madison  Papers,  ii,  694,  695,  697-703. 

Sparks's  Washington,  ix,  507,  508. 

Marshall's  Washington,  v,  90,  91. 

'  Knox  Papers,  xix,  50. 
[       78       ] 


THE  ANNAPOLIS  CONVENTION 

Curtis's  History  of  the  Constitution,  i,  340,  343, 345, 

346,  347- 
Life  of  Hamilton,  ii,  374,  375. 
Austin's  Life  of  Gerry,  ii,  4. 
Bradford,  ii,  253. 

Worcester  Magazine,  nos.  27  and  28,  for  Oct.  1786. 
Elliot's  Debates  i,  116. 
Letters  of  the  Federal  Farmer,  7. 
Hamilton's  Works,  i,  432,  ii,  336. 
Sparks's  Washington,  ix,  223,  226,  513. 
Marshall's  Washington,  v,  97. 
Statesman's  Manual,  ii,  1 501 -1505. 
The  Federalist,  no  xl. 

Pitkin's  Statistics  of  the  United  States,  32. 
North  American  Review,  for  October,  1827,  261- 

266. 
Hildreth's  United  States,  iii,  478. 


VII 
SHAYS'    INSURRECTION 

OR 

"THE    GENTILITY'S    WAR" 
1786 

"This  was  the  gentility's  war."  —  Bellamy's  The  Duke  of 
Stockbridge,  p.  313. 


SHAYS'    INSURRECTION 

Shays'  Rebellion  "  was  one  of 
those  historic  events  which  gain 
instead  of  lose  their  importance 
in  history  as  time  goes  on.  Of  the  Indian 
war,  for  which  Congress  made  nominal 
appropriations  in  1786,  we  hear  little 
afterwards;  but  a  more  serious  contest 
—  which  seemed  at  first  formidable,  then 
trivial,  and  once  more  important  —  was 
impending.  As  a  rule,  a  war  of  five  years 
enriches  a  small  class  of  the  community, 
usually  the  mercantile  or  manufacturing 
class,  and  impoverishes  the  people  at 
large.  Paper  currency  falls  in  value,  pub- 
lic debts  increase  and  private  debts  are 
rapidly  accumulated,  popular  conventions 
begin  to  be  held,  and  if  these  accomplish 
nothing  the  courts  are  blamed  and  per- 
haps attacked.  All  this  was  eminently 
[     83     ] 


STEPHEN   HIGGINSON 

true  of  the  American  Revolution,  and  by 
no  one  in  New  England  was  this  result 
better  foreseen,  or  more  clearly  pointed 
out,  than  by  Stephen  Higginson.  This 
will  be  seen  in  such  letters  as  the  fol- 
lowing, addressed  by  him  to  John  Adams 
in  July,  1786:  — 

"The  habits  of  indolence  and  dissi- 
pation contracted  during  the  War,  are 
very  much  against  our  making  a  right 
improvement  of  the  advantages  we  have 
in  possession,  the  people  at  large  have 
for  several  years  lived  in  a  manner  much 
more  expensive  and  luxurious,  than  they 
have  Ability  to  support,  and  their  Ideas 
can  not  now  be  brought  to  comport,  with 
their  real  situation  and  means  of  living, 
hence,  there  is  nothing  they  now  so 
much  dread,  as  the  parting  with  any  por- 
tion of  that  property,  the  whole  of  which 
they  feel  to  be  incompetent  to  satisfy 
their  Desires,  this  is  an  Evil  it  is  true, 
which  will  work  its  own  Cure;  and  was 
[     84     ] 


SHAYS'   INSURRECTION 

there  force  in  our  Government  to  compel 
the  payment  of  Taxes,  the  Cure  might  be 
accelerated,  but  in  our  situation,  with- 
out Energy  and  without  any  Funds  be- 
side what  may  be  drawn  from  the  people 
by  Taxes,  it  is  a  serious  and  important 
Question,  whether  our  Government  may 
not  get  unhinged,  and  a  revolution  take 
place,  before  the  Cure  be  effected,  and 
the  people  at  large  discover,  that  to  se- 
cure their  liberties  and  the  great  bulk  of 
their  property  a  certain  portion  of  the 
latter  must  be  parted  with,  we  appear  to 
be  verging  fast  to  a  Crisis.  A  change  of 
Ideas  and  measures  must  soon  happen, 
either  from  conviction  or  from  necessity; 
when  it  does  take  place,  I  hope  it  will  be 
for  the  better;  it  will  then  behove  every 
man  of  property  and  influence  to  aim  at 
giving  the  Tide  a  right  direction."  ^ 

Shays'  insurrection  broke  out  in  West- 
ern Massachusetts   in  August,  1786;    an 

'  American  Historical  Association  Report,  1896,  i,  740. 
[      85      ] 


STEPHEN   HIGGINSON 

insurrection  which  carried  with  it  for  a 
time  the  sympathy,  according  to  Von 
Hoist,  of  one  half  the  population  of  the 
State;  and  which  at  one  time,  according 
to  General  Lincoln,  brought  out  12,000 
rebels  under  arms.  Most  of  those  in  the 
ranks  had  been  soldiers  in  the  Revolu- 
tion, and  Captain  Daniel  Shays  himself 
had  been  an  officer  in  that  war.  It  was 
a  period  of  extreme  poverty,  after  a  great 
war;  the  imports  of  the  nation  were  three 
times  as  great  as  its  exports ;  gold  was 
growing  very  scarce,  and  paper  money 
was  almost  valueless.  Bargaining  took 
place  chiefly  through  the  scanty  products 
of  long-neglected  farms;  and  the  editor 
of  the  Worcester  "  Spy "  took  subscrip- 
tions in  salt  pork.  In  Virginia,  tobacco 
was  the  chief  medium  of  retail  com- 
merce, and  in  North  Carolina,  whiskey.' 
The  annual  tax  in  Massachusetts  amounted 
to  an  average  of  $200  to  a  family.    The 

'Bellamy's  Duke  of  Stockbridge,  vii. 

[     86     ] 


SHAYS'   INSURRECTION 

winters  were  cold  as  now,  and  had  only 
open  fires  to  combat  them;  on  Sunday 
the  meeting-houses  were  without  even 
a  stove,  and  the  ministers  wore  gowns  and 
bands  outside  their  overcoats,  if  at  all,  and 
turned  the  notes  of  their  sermons  with 
thick  woolen  mittens  on  their  hands.' 

It  was  not  strange  that  the  rebellion  be- 
gan in  the  western  part  of  the  State,  then 
and  always  its  poorest  part;  and  that  its 
peculiar  object  of  hostility  was  found  in 
the  sessions  of  the  legal  courts  which  were 
largely  broken  up  by  it  as  far  east  as  Wor- 
cester and  even  Concord. "*  It  was  also 
a  period  when  social  classes  were  strongly 
divided,  this  division  being  still  based  on 
the  conditions  prevailing  before  the  Re- 
volution; the  gentry  wearing  wigs,  silk 
stockings,  and  silver  shoe  buckles,  and 
the  lower  classes  wearing  corduroy  coats 
and  leather  knee  breeches,  and  going 
largely  barefooted   in  summer.    In  short, 

'  Bellamy's  Duke  of  Stockbridge,  284.  ^  Ibid.  203. 

[      87      ] 


STEPHEN   HIGGINSON 

the  insurrection  was  to  a  large  extent 
what  Mr.  Bellamy  in  his  "  Duke  of  Stock- 
bridge,"  the  only  vivid  description  of  it, 
calls  it  — "The  Gentility's  War." 

A  mob  met  on  August  22,  1786,  at  Hat- 
field, Massachusetts,  and  severely  censured 
the  action  of  the  courts.  The  outcome 
was  that  on  the  last  Tuesday  of  August 
about  1500  insurgents  assembled  under 
arms  at  Northampton  and  took  possession 
of  the  court-house.  In  spite  of  a  proclama- 
tion from  the  Governor,  the  same  thing 
was  repeated  at  Worcester  by  a  body 
numbering  300  and  upwards.  Similar  at- 
tempts, more  or  less  successful,  were  made 
in  the  counties  of  Bristol  and  Berkshire, 
and  finally  in  Middlesex. 

The  alarm  spread  rapidly  to  Boston. 
Governor  Bowdoin  issued  a  proclamation 
calling  the  Legislature  together,  to  meet 
on  September  27,  1786.  In  the  interval 
the  leading  men  in  Boston  summoned  a 
meeting  at  Faneuil  Hall  on  September  9, 
[     88     ] 


JAMES    BOWDOIN 


i 


SHAYS'   INSURRECTION 

at  which  Samuel  Adams  was  moderator. 
A  committee  consisting  of  Samuel  Adams, 
James  Sullivan,  Dr.  Charles  Jarvis,  Ste- 
phen Higginson,  Edward  Paine,  and  Jon- 
athan Jackson  (Higginson's  partner)  were 
appointed  to  prepare  an  address  to  the 
Governor  expressing  disapproval  of  the 
riots  in  the  interior  and  readiness  to  assist 
the  government  in  every  measure  taken  to 
preserve  the  constitutional  rights  of  the 
people.  The  address  was  presently  re- 
ported and  also  a  circular  to  the  several 
towns,  after  the  old  Revolutionary  form.' 
In  spite  of  all  this  there  came  the  out- 
break led  by  Daniel  Shays.  Hardly  attain- 
ing the  dignity  of  a  single  pitched  battle, 
it  yet,  for  a  time,  broke  up  courts  and  sub- 
stituted the  sweeping  excitements  of  mob 
law,  while  the  promptest  and  most  ener- 
getic action  was  needed  to  suppress  it. 
The  need  of  its  suppression  brought  to- 

«  Wells's  Life  of  Samuel  Adams,  iii,  225 ;  Barry's  History 
of  Massachusetts,  iii,  230-238. 

[   89   ] 


STEPHEN   HIGGINSON 

gether  Hancock  and  Samuel  Adams,  who 
had  hitherto  disagreed  and  had  both  been 
opposed  to  the  Constitution  in  its  original 
draft.  When  the  insurgent  forces  had  come 
as  far  eastward  as  Concord,  it  seemed  time 
for  energetic  action.  The  Governor  and 
Council  ordered  that  warrants  should  be 
issued  for  arresting  the  head  men  of  the 
insurgents  in  Middlesex  and  imprisoning 
them  without  bail ;  and  for  the  execution 
of  these  warrants  a  party  of  horsemen  who 
had  voluntarily  associated  in  defense  of 
the  government,  under  Colonel  Benjamin 
Hichborn,  was  ordered  forth  early  in  the 
morning  of  the  29th  of  November,  1786. 
The  force  under  his  command  proceeded 
immediately  to  Concord  taking  recruits  on 
the  way,  until  they  amounted  to  about  one 
hundred.  Two  of  the  leading  insurgents, 
Parker  and  Page,  were  arrested,  but  Shat- 
tuck,  the  principal  leader,  had  escaped. 
Amid  a  violent  snowstorm  at  midnight 
the  party  marched  on  to  Shattuck's  house 
[    90     ] 


SHAYS'   INSURRECTION 

in  Groton,  where  they  found  that  he  had 
fled  to  the  woods,  whither  he  was  pursued 
and  discovered,  not  however  surrendering 
until  he  had  received  several  wounds. 

The  "  Independent  Chronicle  "  '  gives 
this  extract  from  a  Worcester  letter  dated 
two  days  previously:  — 

"  Too  much  credit  cannot  be  given  the 
officers  and  men  on  this  occasion  who  per- 
formed a  long  and  disagreeable  march,  a 
great  part  of  the  way  in  the  night,  in  a 
heavy  snowstorm."  ..."  Groton  is  about 
43  miles  from  this  town,  so  that  what  with 
the  direct  course  and  the  chase  which 
they  had  before  the  seizure  of  Shattuck, 
who  immediately  fled  to  the  woods,  upon 
being  discovered  behind  a  barn,  many  of 
the  company  must  have  rode  near  one 
hundred  miles  from  Wednesday  morning 
to  Thursday  evening,  and  were  some  of 
them  nine  hours  on  horse-back  without 
scarcely  dismounting  in  that  time."   This 

'  Independent  Chronicle,  December  7,  1786. 
[      91       ] 


STEPHEN   HIGGINSON 

was  at  least  a  tolerably  severe  ordeal  for 
hitherto  peaceful  citizens. 

The  object  of  the  warrant  being  thus 
obtained,  the  party  came  back  to  Boston 
on  the  next  day  but  one  after  their  depar- 
ture, having  penetrated  the  country  for 
nearly  fifty  miles.  "  The  short  time  in 
which  this  excursion  was  performed  with 
so  large  a  body,  and  the  extreme  severity 
of  the  weather,  rendered  the  execution  of 
this  service  as  honourable  to  the  gentlemen 
who  subjected  themselves  to  it,  as  their 
motives  in  the  undertaking  were  commend- 
able. 

"  This  expedition  was  a  very  important 
event.  .  .  .  The  advantages  derived  from 
the  capture  of  the  prisoners  were  material. 
The  heart  of  the  insurrection  in  Middlesex 
was  broken  by  so  sudden  a  stroke,  while 
the  friends  to  good  order  received  a  con- 
fidence from  the  strength  and  success  of 
their  cause." ' 

*  Minot's  History  of  Insurrections  m  Massachusetts,  pp-  77,  78. 
[      92      J 


SHAYS'   INSURRECTION 

All  this  would  have  no  bearing  upon  the 
theme  of  the  present  work,  but  for  the  fact 
which  seems  unquestionable  that  Stephen 
Higginson  went  as  second  in  command  in 
this  extemporized  party  of  rough  riders. 
The  force  of  early  habits,  one  might  sup- 
pose, would  have  been  enough  to  keep 
a  sailor  from  all  direct  share  in  a  midnight 
foray  in  a  snowstorm,  particularly  on  horse- 
back; but  we  must  remember  how  uni- 
versal it  was  for  the  gentry  of  that  period 
to  take  all  their  journeys  in  that  way,  and 
that  he  had  doubtless  gone  to  and  from  the 
seat  of  government  in  no  other  manner. 
No  reference  to  the  subject  is  to  be  found 
among  his  letters,  and  only  one  line  of  evi- 
dence upon  the  subject  exists  anywhere, 
but  that  seems  quite  conclusive.  A  book 
was  published  in  the  year  1834,  entitled 
"  Familiar  Letters  on  the  Public  Men  of  the 
Revolution,  including  Events,  1783-1815." 
The  author  of  this  book  was  William 
Sullivan,  whose  father,  James  Sullivan, 
[     93     ] 


STEPHEN   HIGGINSON 

was  Governor  of  Massachusetts.  William 
Sullivan  himself  was  born  in  1774  and  died 
in  1837.  He  graduated  at  Harvard  in 
1792  and  received  the  degree  of  LL.D. 
in  1826.  He  had  held  many  public  offices 
in  Massachusetts,  was  a  brigadier-general 
of  militia  and  a  member  of  the  American 
Academy  of  Arts  and  Sciences,  Amer- 
ican Philosophical  Societ}^,  and  the  Mas- 
sachusetts Historical  Society.  No  family 
in  Massachusetts  stood  higher  for  a  series 
of  generations  than  the  Sullivans,  and 
I  mention  these  details  because  it  is 
through  him  and  him  alone  that  we  have 
authority  for  the  statement  that  Stephen 
Higginson  did  military  service  at  the  time 
of  Shays'  Rebellion,  nor  does  even  he  tell 
this  of  his  own  knowledge.  It  is  however 
incidentally  mentioned,  as  if  a  well-known 
fact,  in  a  letter  stated  as  having  been 
written  by  a  personal  friend  of  the  late 
"Judge  Lowell"  and  of  the  late  "Mr. 
Higginson,"  mention  being  put  in  the  form 
[     94     ] 


SHAYS'   INSURRECTION 

of  a  question  addressed  to  General  Hich- 
born:  "Did  you  not  go  out  with  Stephen 
Higginson  as  your  second  in  command,  to 
suppress  the  insurrection  of  1786  and  did 
you  ever  lisp  a  word  against  him  till 
now?"' 

I  have  tried  in  vain  to  ascertain  who  was 
the  writer  of  this  supposed  letter  to  Gen- 
eral Hichborn,  but  it  seems  altogether 
probable  that  it  was  General  James  Sul- 
livan, eldest  son  of  Governor  Sullivan, 
this  son  being  a  man  who  was  himself  en- 
gaged in  the  pursuit  of  Shays,  and  indeed 
died  a  few  years  later  from  the  fatigues  of 
this  very  contest/  It  leaves  little  doubt, 
at  any  rate,  that  Stephen  Higginson  was 
at  least  a  member  of  the  expedition  whose 
story  has  been  briefly  told. 

It  can  also  hardly  be  doubted  that  he 
was  at  least  one  of  those  Boston  mer- 
chants, those  "  first  characters  "  who  saved 

'  Sullivan's  Familiar  Letters,  pp.  379,  380. 

*  N.  E.  Historical  and  Genealogical  Register,  xix,  304. 

[     95     ] 


STEPHEN   HIGGINSON 

the  standing  of  the  State,  as  recorded  by 
General  Lincoln  in  the  following  passage 
of  his  report  to  the  President:  — 

Feby.  22.  1787 
Thus  far  I  had  written  as  early  as 
December,  and  should  have  forwarded  the 
letter  at  that  time,  but  had  some  hopes 
that  the  Governor  and  Council  would 
take  some  measures  for  crushing  the  in- 
surgents. This  however  hung  in  suspense 
until  the  beginning  of  January.  It  was  then 
agreed  to  raise  two  thousand  men  in  the 
Counties  of  Suffolk,  Essex,  and  Middlesex, 
and  four  companies  of  Artillery ;  twelve 
hundred  men  in  the  County  of  Hampshire; 
and  twelve  hundred  men  in  the  County 
of  Worcester.  The  command  of  the  troops 
was  to  be  given  to  me,  being  the  first 
Major  General  in  the  State.  At  this  mo- 
ment, when  every  part  of  the  system  was 
digested,  and  nothing  remained  but  the  of- 
fering the  order  to  raise  the  men,  and  carry 
it  into  execution,  information  was  received 
[    96    ] 


SHAYS'   INSURRECTION 

from  the  Commissary  General  that  the 
necessary  supplies  could  not  be  obtained 
without  a  considerable  sum  in  cash, 
which  was  not  within  the  power  of  the 
Treasurer  to  borrow.  On  my  hearing  this 
from  the  Governor,  I  went  immediately  to 
a  club  of  the  first  characters  in  Boston,  who 
met  that  night,  and  laid  before  them  a  full 
state  of  matters,  and  suggested  to  them  the 
importance  of  their  becoming  loaners  of 
part  of  their  property,  if  they  wished  to 
secure  the  remainder.  A  subscription  was 
set  on  foot  in  the  morning,  headed  by  the 
Governor.  Before  night  the  cloud  which 
twenty-four  hours  before  hung  over  us 
disappeared  as  we  had  an  assurance  of 
obtaining  the  sum  we  wanted. ' 

From  a  gathering  like  this,  we  may  well 
be  sure  the  leading  merchant  of  Boston 
was  not  absent. 

*  Letters  of  General  Lincoln  to  Washington  in  Sparks 
MSS.,  no.  57,  pp.  6,  7.  The  original  letter  is  in  the  Depart- 
ment of  State  at  Washington. 


VIII 

THE    NINE     STATES    IN 
CONVENTION 

(1787) 

"  Should  there  be  a  general  Convention  in  May,  and  they 
proceed  to  form  a  federal  Constitution,  I  wish  to  have  them 
empowered  to  perfect  the  system,  and  give  it  immediate  oper- 
ation, if  nine  states  in  Convention  shall  agree  to  it,  without  a 
reference  to  Congress  or  their  Constituents  "  —  Stephen  Hig- 
ginson,  Letter  to  General  H.  Knox,  February  8,  1787. 


THE    NINE     STATES     IN 
CONVENTION 

IT  is  needless  to  pursue  farther  the 
personal  relation,  if  any,  of  Stephen 
Higginson  to  the  current  events  of 
Shays'  Rebellion.  The  whole  history  of 
that  really  important  contest  has  at  last 
been  well  written  for  the  first  time  by 
Joseph  Parker  Warren  and  published  in 
the  "American  Historical  Review"  for 
October,  1905.  It  has  also  been  sketched 
more  lightly  by  the  late  Edward  Bellamy, 
whose  novel  called  "  The  Duke  of  Stock- 
bridge,  a  Romance  of  Shays'  Rebellion," 
was  written  by  him,  as  is  now  known, 
before  the  more  famous  novels  that  were 
produced  by  him  in  later  years,  when  his 
socialistic  tendencies  had  made  merely 
historical  work  seem  to  him  unimportant. 
But  while  immediate  events  were  pass- 
[     loi     ] 


STEPHEN   HIGGINSON 

ing,  Stephen  Higginson's  mind  was  busily 
occupied,  and  his  judgment  now  seems, 
on  publication  of  his  correspondence,  to 
have  been  clearer  and  firmer  than  that 
of  any  public  man  of  his  time,  unless  it 
be  in  case  of  President  Washington  and 
General  Knox,  the  latter  of  whom  was 
directly  and  Washington  more  indirectly 
under  the  influence  of  Higginson. 

We  see  by  the  following  extract  from 
a  letter  to  General  Knox,  Secretary  of 
War,  how  carefully  Stephen  Higginson 
watched  the  course  of  events,  and  how 
clearly  he  saw,  what  many  others  did  not, 
that  the  disturbances  under  Shays  were 
not  only,  in  his  phrase,  "  much  more 
deeply  rooted "  than  was  apprehended, 
but  that  they  had  at  least  the  advantage 
of  furnishing  the  very  strongest  argument 
in  favor  of  a  more  efficient  general  gov- 
ernment than  a  mere  confederacy  could 
ever  furnish.  The  following  is  his  state- 
ment of  the  matter:  — 

[     102     ] 


NINE   STATES   IN   CONVENTION 

Boston,  February  13th,  1787. 
The  expedition  under  Gen^  Lincoln  has 
been  very  successful,  the  opposition  to 
Government  is  at  present  prostrated;  but 
the  disaffection  is  evidently  much  more 
deeply  rooted,  and  extensive,  than  was  ap- 
prehended; and  when  the  Army  shall  be 
withdrawn,  rebellion  may  again  soon  erect 
its  daring  Standards  and  openly  defy  our 
feeble  Government,  the  continuation  of 
our  Army  in  the  field,  will  not  only  con- 
sume the  funds  which  have  been  furnished 
by  a  voluntary  Loan,  but  will  retard  the 
enlistments  of  men  into  Jackson's  Corps, 
these  circumstances  will  much  impede  the 
perfecting  of  that  body  of  men  for  the  field; 
and  as  large  Sums  are  necessary  for  sup- 
porting the  militia,  which  can  not  be  raised 
but  in  the  way  of  Loan,  I  fear  that  the 
money  wanted  for  cloathing  the  men  of 
Jackson's  Corps  will  not  easily  be  obtained. 
Lincoln's  expedition  will  be  so  much  more 
tedious  and  expensive  than  we  appre- 
[     103     ] 


STEPHEN   HIGGINSON 

hended  at  first,  as  to  call  for  all  the  Money 
that  can  be  speedily  raised  by  Loan,  in- 
stead of  leaving  a  good  Sum,  from  what  is 
already  subscribed,  for  Jackson's  use. — 
You  will  endeavour  no  doubt  to  draw 
strong  Arguments  from  the  insurrection 
in  this  State  in  favour  of  an  efficient  Gen- 
eral Government  for  the  Union.  As  all  the 
States  are  at  least  equally  exposed  with 
this  to  such  Commotions,  and  none  of  them 
are  capable  of  the  exertions  we  have  made, 
they  will  have  reason  to  fear  the  worst 
consequences  to  themselves,  unless  the 
Union  shall  have  force  enough  to  give  the 
same  effectual  aid  in  a  like  case.  —  Those 
who  now  have  the  administration  of  Gov- 
ernment in  the  several  States  and  for  the 
Union,  must  seize  every  opportunity  to 
increase  its  energy  and  stability;  or  Insur- 
gents will  soon  rise  up,  and  take  the  reins 
from  them,  this  consideration,  which  I  take 
to  be  founded  in  truth,  and  the  nature  of 
things,  should  guard  those  in  office  and 
[     104     ] 


NINE   STATES   IN   CONVENTION 

power  from  an  undue  and  ill  timed  mod- 
esty, as  to  the  means  to  be  used  for  increas- 
ing the  powers  of  Government,  and  the 
manner  of  exercising  them  when  ac- 
quired — 

These  are  Sentiments  too  free  and  bold 
to  be,  as  yet,  very  freely  and  generally 
held  forth;  but  the  time  is  coming,  and 
every  man  in  his  sphere  should  contribute 
to  accelerate  its  arrival,  when  they  will  be 
very  popular  and  generally  practiced  upon. 
But,  as  it  is  yet  at  some  distance,  you  will, 
I  am  persuaded,  not  too  openly  hand  them 
out,  even  as  those  of  another.  I  write  you 
see  in  confidence,  and  I  remain  respect- 

fully 

Your  hum^  Serv* 

Stephen  Higginson' 

This  inference  may  have  been  drawn 
by  others  also,  though  perhaps  not  stated  by 
any  one  else  so  forcibly.  Congress,  at  any 
rate,  passed  a  resolution  on  February  21, 

*  American  Historical  Association  Report,  iS()6,  i,  751,752. 
[      105      ] 


STEPHEN   HIGGINSON 

recommending  a  convention  of  the  states. 
On  February  22,  the  Massachusetts  Leg- 
islature resolved  that  delegates  be  sent, — 
these  delegates  having  been  already  con- 
ditionally appointed,  —  and  Stephen  Hig- 
ginson  says  approvingly  of  this  action, 
"  The  [members  of  the]  legislature  have 
behaved  well  and  conducted  [themselves] 
with  spirit."  He  writes  in  a  letter  to  Na- 
than Dane,  March  3,  1787,  as  follows:  — 

...  It  is  clear  in  my  mind,  that  we  cannot 
long  exist  under  our  present  system*  and 
that  unless  we  soon  acquire  more  force  to 
the  Union  by  some  means  or  other,  Insur- 
gents will  arise  and  eventually  take  the 
reins  from  us;  I  am  for  trying  any  meas- 
ure that  promises  even  a  possibility  of  suc- 
cess. We  must  either  brace  up  the  powers 
of  the  Union  to  a  degree  capable  of  sup- 
porting and  encouraging  the  affairs  of  the 
nation  with  dignity  and  energy,  and  this 
by  an  act  of  deliberation  and  choice  or  we 
[     106     ] 


.IM 


NINE   STATES   IN   CONVENTION 

shall  inevitably  be  thrown  into  general 
confusion  and  convulsions,  which  will  re- 
sult in  one  or  more  Governments,  estab- 
lished with  the  loss  of  much  blood,  violent 
and  despotic  in  its  nature,  and  the  effect 
of  necessity  and  chance.  In  this  situation, 
when  no  other  mode  is  suggested  which 
affords  even  a  gleam  of  hope,  I  am  clearly 
of  opinion  that  to  decline  a  proposition  of 
this  kind,  though  the  effect  may  be  very 
uncertain,  would  be  imprudent — for  I  can- 
not see  that,  in  any  event,  the  result  of 
the  Convention  can  be  against  us.  If  no 
S3^stem  can  there  be  advised  to  save  us 
from  confusion  and  distress,  and  we  must 
take  our  chance  for  what  may  arise  out  of 
a  general  disorder,  the  sooner  we  are 
brought  to  a  decision  upon  this  point  the 
better;  it  is  surely  uncomfortable  to  remain 
longer  in  our  present  situation,  and  the 
sooner  and  more  rapidly  disorder  over- 
takes us,  the  shorter  will  its  duration  be 
and  of  less  extent  will  probably  be  the 
[     107     ] 


STEPHEN   HIGGINSON 

political  distress  which  will  result.  While 
we  have  any  hope  of  warding  off  the  evil 
by  means  of  a  convention,  we  shall  not 
patiently  submit  to  a  temporary  anarchy, 
nor  propose  to  claim  any  advantages  from 
a  state  of  convulsion;  but  having  tried  the 
experiment  and  found  that  our  National 
Government  must  arise  out  of  necessity 
alone,  and  be  the  effect  of  confusion,  we 
shall  then  give  way  to  dire  necessity,  and 
with  vigilance  turn  every  event  to  a  good 
purpose.  — 

The  papers  will  have  informed  you  of 
the  doings  of  the  Government  —  the  Leg- 
islature have  behaved  well  and  conducted 
with  spirit  —  they  have  adopted  an  ener- 
getic system  of  policy  with  respect  to  the 
rebels,  perhaps  in  some  instances  they 
have  carried  their  resentment  too  far.  the 
rebellion  appears  to  be  in  a  good  degree 
crushed,  the  force  of  the  rebels  is  dis- 
persed. But  the  seeds  yet  remain  in  the 
soil,  the  spirit  of  faction  and  rebellion  is 
[     io8     ] 


NINE   STATES   IN   CONVENTION 

far  from  being  subdued;  nor  can  it  be 
rooted  out  without  the  cooperation  of  the 
other  N.  E  States  —  while  our  rebels  can 
find  a  shelter  in  those  States,  they  will  not 
only  retain  this  disposition  themselves,  but 
they  will  communicate  it  to  the  Citizens 
of  those  States,  whose  minds  are  as  prone 
to  rebellion  as  ours,  and  from  the  same 
causes,  the  evil  appears  to  me  to  arize 
naturally  and  necessarily  out  of  our  case, 
the  people  of  the  interior  parts  of  these 
States  have  by  far  too  much  political  know- 
ledge and  too  strong  a  relish  for  unre- 
strained freedom,  to  be  governed  by  our 
feeble  system,  and  too  little  acquaintance 
with  real  sound  policy  or  rational  freedom 
and  too  little  virtue  to  govern  themselves, 
they  have  become  too  well  acquainted  with 
their  own  weight  in  the  political  scale, 
under  such  governments  as  ours  and  have 
too  high  a  taste  for  luxury  and  dissipation, 
to  sit  down  contented  in  their  proper  line, 
when  they  see  others  possessed  of  much 
[     109    ] 


STEPHEN   HIGGINSON 

more  property  than  themselves,  with  these 
feelings  and  sentiments,  they  will  not  be 
quiet  while  such  distinctions  exist  as  to 
rank  and  property;  and  sensible  of  their 
own  force,  they  will  not  rest  easy  till  they 
possess  the  reins  of  Government,  and  have 
divided  property  with  their  betters,  or 
they  shall  be  compelled  by  force  to  sub- 
mit to  their  proper  stations  and  mode  of 
living. 

Which  of  these  events  are  the  most 
likely  to  happen,  and  how,  is  in  my  mind 
very  uncertain.  The  end  of  this  rebellion 
both  as  to  the  time  and  manner  of  it  equally 
so  of  course. 

I  have  not  time  to  add,  only  to  desire 
you  to  forward  the  inclosed  letter  and  some 
news  papers  if  you  have  any  to  spare  to 
my  son  Nat.  the  next  leisure  hour  I  will 
write  you  again 

Adieu  yours  &c 

S  Higginson' 

*  American  Historical  Association  Report,  1896,  i,  753,  754. 
[     iio     ] 


NINE   STATES   IN   CONVENTION 

It  was  easy  enough  to  see  the  dangers 
threatened  to  New  England  by  Shays' 
Rebellion,  but  it  was  not  every  one  who 
saw  that  the  only  remedy  for  such  trou- 
bles must  be  found  in  a  more  complete 
union  of  the  states.  Of  those  who  saw 
this,  Stephen  Higginson  was  plainly  one 
of  the  leaders.  I  have  been  unable  to  find 
that  in  any  other  correspondence  of  that 
day  the  precise  point  at  issue  was  so 
clearly  stated  as  in  his. 

He  had  written  on  the  subject  more 
fully,  a  few  weeks  before,  to  General 
Knox :  — 

Boston,  February  8th,  1787. 

Gen.  H.  Knox 
Dear  Sir. 

Your  Letter  of  28th  last  Month  I 
have  received,  and  am  pleased  to  find 
that  your  Sentiments  and  my  own  are  so 
exactly  coincident  as  to  the  subject  of  it; 
and  there  is  so  good  a  prospect  of  a  gen- 
eral Convention  in  May,  as  you  have 
[     I"     ] 


STEPHEN    HIGGINSON 

represented.  As  early  as  '83,  while  I  was 
at  Congress,  I  pressed  upon  Mr.  Maddi- 
son  and  others  the  Idea  of  a  special  Con- 
vention, for  the  purpose  of  revising  the 
Confederation,  and  increasing  the  powers 
of  the  Union;  the  obtaining  of  which,  we 
all  agreed  to  be  essential  to  our  national 
dignity  and  happiness.  But  they  were  as 
much  opposed  to  this  Idea,  as  I  was  to 
the  measures  they  were  then  pursuing, 
to  effect,  as  they  said,  the  same  thing. 
They  have,  however,  now  adopted  the 
Idea,  and  have  come  forward  with  a 
proposition  to  attempt  practising  upon  it. 
It  is  an  agreed,  and,  as  I  conceive,  a 
clear  point,  that  the  Confederation  is  in- 
competent to  the  purposes  for  which  it 
was  established,  the  managing  the  Affairs 
of  the  Union.  Powers  delineated  on  paper 
cannot  alone  be  sufficient,  the  Union  must 
not  only  have  the  right  to  make  Laws  and 
requisitions,  but  it  must  have  the  power 
also  of  compelling  obedience  thereto, 
[     "2     ] 


NINE   STATES   IN   CONVENTION 

otherwise  our  federal  Constitution  will  be 
a  mere  dead  letter. 

•  ••«•••• 

This  State  entered  into  the  measure  of 
appointing  a  general  Convention  the  last 
year  with  much  readiness;  but  the  Senti- 
ments delivered  to  the  two  houses  by  Mr. 
King  and  Mr.  Dane,  have  produced  a  great 
change  in  the  disposition  of  the  members. 
Those  Gentlemen,  I  fancy,  have  now  dif- 
ferent Ideas  of  the  matter,  and  will  not 
now  think  there  is  so  great  a  resemblance 
between  our  County  Conventions,  in  their 
views  and  principles,  and  that  proposed  to 
be  held  at  Philadelphia  in  May,  as  they 
then  thought,  nor  will  they  now  imagine 
the  same  danger  can  result  to  the  Union 
from  the  latter,  as  our  experience  has 
proved  was  justly  apprehended  from  the 
former  to  this  Commonwealth.  —  I  hope 
that  the  two  houses  will  this  Session  come 
into  the  measure,  and  appoint  Delegates; 
but  I  have  some  doubts,  whether  they  can 
[     1^3     ] 


STEPHEN   HIGGINSON 

so  soon  be  brought  off  from  the  sentiments 
they  have  imbibed  from  Mr.  King  and  Mr. 
Dane. 

If  a  delegation  should  take  place,  Mr. 
King  will  probably  be  in  it,  was  I  to  nom- 
inate, I  should  write  thus  "  King,  Lowell, 
Dana,  Parsons  and  Gerry."  Mr.  Jackson, 
Mr.  Cabot  and  others  if  they  would  engage 
might  be  added,  or  substituted  in  case  of 
failure.  As  to  myself  I  am  out  of  the  ques- 
tion, having  neither  qualities  nor  leisure 
for  the  Business. 

Should  there  be  a  general  Convention 
in  May,  and  they  proceed  to  form  a  federal 
Constitution,  I  wish  to  have  them  empow- 
ered to  perfect  the  system,  and  give  it  im- 
mediate operation,  if  nine  states  in  Conven- 
tion shall  agree  to  it,  without  a  reference 
to  Congress,  or  their  Constituents  —  for 
much  time  must  otherwise  be  lost,  and 
perhaps  such  a  difference  of  Sentiment 
may  arise,  as  to  the  report,  as  may  entirely 
defeat  the  object.  Next  to  this,  I  should 
[     "4     ] 


NINE   STATES   IN   CONVENTION 

prefer  having  their  report  referred  to  Con- 
gress, and  if  there  approved  of  by  nine 
States,  they  to  be  authorized  to  give  it 
immediate  operation.  But  I  fear  the  States 
cannot  be  brought  to  either  of  these  points. 

Your  very  hum'l  Servant 

Stephen  Higginson' 

In  the  opinion  of  that  careful  historian 
Jameson,  who  prepared  the  report  of  the 
"Historical  Manuscripts  Commission"  of 
the  American  Historical  Association  for 
1896,  this  letter  contained  the  first  sugges- 
tion of  the  precise  method  by  which  the 
United  States  Constitution  was  finally  es- 
tablished and  the  Confederation,  whose 
defects  Higginson  had  pointed  out  so 
clearly,  came  to  an  end.  On  February  21, 
1787,  a  resolution  was  moved  and  carried 
in  Congress  recommending  a  convention  to 
meet  in  Philadelphia  on  the  second  Monday 

'  American  Historical  Association  Report,  1896,  i,  745,  747, 
748. 

[     "5     ] 


STEPHEN   HIGGINSON 

of  May  "  for  the  purpose  of  revising  the 
Articles  of  Confederation,  and  reporting  to 
Congress,  and  the  several  legislatures,  such 
alterations  and  provisions  therein  as  shall, 
when  agreed  to  in  Congress  and  confirmed 
by  the  States,  render  the  federal  Constitu- 
tion adequate  to  the  exigencies  of  govern- 
ment and  the  preservation  of  the  Union."  ' 
As  a  result  of  this  action  of  Congress 
the  representatives  of  twelve  States  assem- 
bled, Rhode  Island  being  alone  unrepre- 
sented. In  regard  to  the  selection  of  mem- 
bers from  Massachusetts,  Judge  Sullivan 
wrote  thus  to  Rufus  King  on  September 
25 :  "  Five  are  to  be  chosen.  Who  they 
will  be  is  very  uncertain.  Dana  and  Gerry 
are  on  nearly  all  the  lists ;  you  are  on  many; 
Higginson  and  Lowell  on  some,  and  also 
Gorham.  He  objects  to  all  lawyers;  others 
to  members  of  Congress.  The  merchants 
say  it  is  all  a  matter  of  commerce,  and  that 
merchants  are  the  men.    I  have  the  honor 

*  Story's  Commentaries  of  the  Constitution  (ed.  1833),  p.  107. 
[       116       ] 


NINE  STATES   IN   CONVENTION 

to  be  mentioned,  but  shall  not  be  chosen, 
and  should  not  go  if  I  were.  The  choice 
will  be  this  week." '  The  delegates  from 
Massachusetts  elected  were  Francis  Dana, 
Elbridge  Gerry,  Nathaniel  Gorham,  Caleb 
Strong,  and  Rufus  King.^  Dana,  however, 
did  not  attend;  Higginson  had  declined, 
as  he  was,  according  to  his  kinsman 
Lowell,  in  the  habit  of  doing,  where  pos- 
sible. 

It  is  noticeable  that  at  the  same  time 
when  this  convention  was  being  held, 
the  "American  Museum"  at  Philadelphia 
(edited  by  Matthew  Carey)  contained  an 
address  to  Congress  from  fifteen  mer- 
chants of  Boston,  apparently  appointed 
by  a  public  meeting,  pointing  out  the 
inconveniences  endured  by  American 
commerce  and  lamenting  the  unfortunate 
delinquency  of  some  States  in  the  Union 

*  Amory's  Sullivan,  i,  218. 

*  See   also    Barry's  History   of  Massachusetts,     iii,    270; 
Curtis's  History  of  the  Constitution,  i,  516-518. 

[       117       ] 


STEPHEN   HIGGINSON 

in  withholding  the  necessary  powers  from 
Congress.  John  Hancock  headed  the  list 
and  Stephen  Higginson  was  one  of  the 
signers.  The  same  number  of  the  "Amer- 
ican Museum"  contained  an  editorial  re- 
flecting indignantly  on  Rhode  Island  for 
establishing  a  mint  of  her  own,  while 
another  contribution  contrasted  her  with 
Vermont  and  proposed  her  dismember- 
ment. 

General  Washington,  it  is  believed,  was 
induced  by  Shays'  Rebellion  to  attend  the 
Constitutional  Convention,'  about  which 
he  had  also  written,  "  I  highly  approve  of 
all  the  defensive  and  precautionary  meas- 
ures that  have  been  adopted,  and  wish 
they  had  been  more  energetic."  ^  After 
long  debate  the  plan  of  the  present  Con- 
stitution was  adopted;  and  the  conven- 
tion, in  voting  to  lay  it  before  Congress, 

'  Curtis's  History  of  the  Constitution,  i,  400 ;  Sparks's  Writ- 
ings of  Washington,  ix,  253. 

*  Gibbs's  Ad?ninistr-ation  of  Washington  and  Adams,  ii,  60. 

[     "8     ] 


NINE  STATES   IN   CONVENTION 

further  proposed  that  it  should  afterwards 
be  submitted  to  a  delegate  convention  in 
each  State  for  its  ratification.  It  also  pro- 
vided that  so  soon  as  nine  States  had  rati- 
fied this  Constitution,  Congress  should  fix 
a  day  for  the  choice  of  presidential  elect- 
ors. This  especial  proposal  as  to  the 
number  of  votes  made  requisite  for  an 
acceptance  of  the  Constitution  by  the 
nation  proceeded,  as  we  have  seen,  from 
Stephen  Higginson.  It  is  to  be  noticed, 
moreover,  that  Story  points  out  in  his  final 
narrative  of  these  events  that  "  The  alarm- 
ing insurrection  then  existing  in  Massa- 
chusetts, without  doubt,  had  no  small  share 
in  producing  this  result." '  It  was  by  actual 
service  in  that  insurrection  that  Stephen 
Higginson  had  learned  the  lesson  as  to  the 
need  of  a  stronger  government. 

All  this  situation  now  brings  us  to  the 
"conciliatory  resolutions"  drawn  up  by 
Theophilus  Parsons  of  Massachusetts  and 

*  Story's  Commentaries  of  the  Constitution  (ed.  1833),  p.  107. 

[     "9     ] 


STEPHEN   HIGGINSON 

presented  before  the  convention  of  that 
State  on  January  31,  1788.'  On  that  day, 
John  Hancock,  who  had  been  detained 
by  illness,  real  or  nominal,  for  a  few  days, 
took  the  chair,  and  brought  in  what  was 
called  by  the  newspapers  of  the  day  the 
"conciliatory  proposition,"  the  original 
draft  of  which  was  found  among  Han- 
cock's papers  in  Parsons's  own  hand- 
writing after  his  death.  The  resolutions 
now  introduced  silenced  the  chief  oppo- 
sition among  the  delegates  by  begin- 
ning with  this  section:  "First.  That  it 
be  explicitly  declared,  that  all  powers  not 
expressly  delegated  to  Congress  are  re- 
served to  the  several  States,  to  be  by 
them  exercised."^  Even  these  amend- 
ments only  secured  the  passage  of  the 
whole  instrument  by  a  majority  of  19  out 
of  355  votes  cast;  but  when  once  adopted 
the  leading  opponents  gave  in  their  adher- 

*  Parsons's  Life  of  Parsons,  p.  68. 

*  Ibid.  p.  67. 

[        120       ] 


NINE   STATES   IN  CONVENTION 

ence  to  it  at  once.  The  new  Constitu- 
tion was  now  virtually  established,  though 
still  subject  to  vote  by  several  other  States. 
In  Boston  there  was  especial  rejoicing; 
there  were  meetings,  processions,  dinners, 
and  fireworks.  A  ballad  sung  about  the 
streets  summed  it  up  thus :  — 

Then  'Squire  Hancock,  like  a  man 

Who  dearly  loves  the  nation, 
By  a  concil'atory  plan, 

Prevented  much  vexation. 

Yankee  doodle,  keep  it  up  ! 
Yankee  doodle,  dandy ! 
Mind  the  music  and  the  step. 
And  with  the  girls  be  handy.* 

'  Parsons 's  Life  of  Parsons,  p.  69. 


IX 

LACO    AND    HIS    LETTERS 

(1789) 


King  Agis  said,  "  The  Lacedsemonians  are  not  wont  to  ask 
laow  many,  but  where  the  enemy  are."  —  Plutarch. 


LACO   AND    HIS    LETTERS 

THE  eminently  candid  editor  of 
Stephen  Higginson's  letters,  for 
publication  by  the  American 
Historical  Association,  while  pronouncing 
Higginson's  views  on  public  affairs  to  be 
"temperate  and  far-seeing,"  adds,  with 
some  justice,  "The  sureness  and  serenity 
of  his  judgment  was,  indeed,  much  dimin- 
ished by  partisanship.  The  reputed  author 
of  the  ^Laco'  letters  was  never  just  to 
Hancock,  to  the  anti-Federalists  of  1788, 
or  to  the  ^Jacobins'  of  1795  and  1798."' 
The  "  Laco "  Letters  were  published 
anonymously,  after  the  fashion  of  that  day, 
in  the  "  Massachusetts  Centinel "  during 
February  and  March,  1789,  and  were  re- 
printed in  a  pamphlet  in  the  following 
year.  They  were  aimed  at  the  richest  man 
in  Boston,  who  was  also  the  first  signer  of 

'  American  Historical  Association  Report,  1896,  i,  708. 
[       125       ] 


STEPHEN   HIGGINSON 

the  Declaration  of  Independence.  It  is 
worth  while,  before  giving  selections  from 
them,  to  quote  also  a  candid  estimate  made 
by  that  careful  critic,  George  S.  Hillard, 
not  of  Hancock  directly,  but  of  one  whose 
views  of  Hancock  were  quite  as  severe 
as  Stephen  Higginson's,  namely,  James 
Savage,  the  eminent  historian.  In  writing 
his  sketch  of  Savage's  character  for  the 
Massachusetts  Historical  Society,  Mr. 
Hillard's  opinion  was  summed  up  as  fol- 
lows. After  speaking  of  Mr.  Savage's 
severity  on  Cotton  Mather  he  goes  on:  — 
".  .  .  Especially  there  were  two  men, 
in  his  [Savage's]  own  State,  one  living  in 
the  seventeenth  and  one  in  the  eighteenth 
century,  toward  whom  his  feelings  were 
akin  to  personal  antipathy:  these  were 
Cotton  Mather  and  John  Hancock.  In  the 
case  of  Cotton  Mather,  his  grounds  of  of- 
fence were  his  credulity,  his  rashness  of 
statement,  and,  above  all,  his  habits  of 
carelessness  and  inaccuracy.  .  .  . 
[     126     ] 


JOHN    HANCOCK 


LACO  AND   HIS   LETTERS 

"  His  objections  to  John  Hancock  were 
of  a  different  kind,  though  they  may  be 
traced  back  to  his  consistent  and  invincible 
love  of  truth.  He  felt  keenly  the  difference 
between  what  he  deemed  Hancock's  real 
character  and  that  conceded  to  him  by 
public  estimation.  He  considered  him  as 
enjoying  a  reputation  founded  upon  acci- 
dental circumstances,  and  to  which  he  had 
no  substantial  claim.  He  did  not  think 
that  his  patriotic  services  in  trying  times 
gave  him  any  title  to  have  his  weaknesses 
or  his  foibles  ignored.  Among  these  weak- 
nesses, Mr.  Savage  regarded  his  vanity  and 
his  love  of  popularity,  —  infirmities  to 
which  the  sturdy  independence  of  his  own 
character  made  him,  perhaps,  uncharitable. 
John  Hancock,  in  his  eyes,  was  a  brilliant 
specimen  of  dust  o'ergilded.  He  [Savage] 
retained  in  his  memory  many  traditionary 
anecdotes  which  were  at  variance  with  the 
received  impressions  concerning  him;  and 
he  took  the  more  pleasure  in  recounting 
[     127     ] 


STEPHEN   HIGGINSON 

them,  because  he  held  that  strict  justice 
required  they  should  be  known.  Mankind 
is  generally  disposed  to  forget  the  infirm- 
ities and  weaknesses  of  eminent  patriots 
who  prove  true  to  their  country  in  the 
day  of  trial,  whatever  may  have  been  the 
motives  upon  which  they  acted.  That  John 
Hancock's  name  was  first  set  to  the  De- 
claration of  Independence  has  given  him 
a  sure  title  to  immortality.  It  is,  as  Mr. 
Webster  says,  as  if  '  he  had  written  his 
name  between  Orion  and  the  Pleiades.' "  ' 

Turning  now  to  Laco's  view,  we  find 
the  following  estimate:  — 

"Mr.  H.,  [Hancock]  by  the  death  of 
his  uncle,  became  possessed  of  a  large 
estate.  He  was  thought  to  have  some  of 
the  exterior  graces  necessary  to  form  a 
popular  character,  and  he  early  discov- 
ered a  strong  inclination  for  popular  ap- 
plause.   These  qualities  rendered  him  a 

'  Massachusetts  Historical  Society  Proceedings,  1878,  pp. 
152.  153- 

[       128      ] 


LACO  AND   HIS   LETTERS 

proper  object  for  the  effective  -patriots 
of  the  day  to  bring  forward  to  favour 
their  views.  They  availed  themselves  of 
his  great  desire  for  popularity,  and  they 
represented  him  as  a  man  useful  in  the 
cause  of  liberty,  to  give  him  importance 
in  the  eyes  of  the  people  —  his  vanity 
favoured  their  views  —  he  was  captivated 
with  the  idea  of  being  a  publick  man  — 
a  man  of  the  people  —  and  he  was  lavish 
of  his  money,  and  in  his  attention  to  the 
people,  to  gain  their  affections.  To  ren- 
der him  conspicuous,  they  assigned  him 
a  part  in  their  manoeuvres,  not  important, 
but  ostentatious ;  but  having  early  discov- 
ered his  caprice,  they  did  not  admit  him 
to  their  private  councils.  Though  they 
considered  him  as  a  useful  instrument, 
and  were  desirous  of  retaining  him  in 
their  service,  they  had  no  confidence  in 
his  attachment  to  their  cause,  nor  did 
they  ever  intrust  him  with  any  thing  that 
could  much  injure  it,  by  being  disclosed. 
[     129    ] 


STEPHEN   HIGGINSON 

"Upon  these  principles,  and  with  these 
views,  was  he  introduced  into  publick 
life,  by  the  leaders  of  the  opposition  to 
Britain  at  that  day.  But  though  upon 
publick  principles,  he  was  introduced  into 
the  Legislature,  and  made  to  appear  as 
a  man  of  importance,  he  had  not  in  fact 
any  more  efficiency,  than  the  pen  of  the 
writer  under  the  signature  of  Massachu- 
SETTENSis;  and  it  was  often  with  great 
pains  they  prevented  him  from  going  over 
to  the  other  side.  So  great  was  his  van- 
ity, and  so  excessive  his  caprice,  that  his 
leaders  were  often  at  a  loss  to  restrain 
and  keep  him  steady.  His  character  and 
his  passions  were  so  well  known  to  Ber- 
nard and  Hutchinson^  d:c.,  that  they  could 
always  attempt  his  seduction  with  a  pros- 
pect of  success;  and  they  would  several 
times  have  gained  him  to  their  party,  but 
for  the  vigilant  eyes  of  the  two  Adamses, 
and  Otis,  <£:c.  Nor  did  he,  during  the 
period  I  refer  to,  ever  do  a  single  honour- 
[     130     ] 


LACO   AND   HIS   LETTERS 

able  or  important  act  that  I  have  heard 
of,  either  by  originating  or  carrying  a 
measure,  or  furnishing  money  for  any 
great  and  general  purposes.  Though  lav- 
ish of  his  money,  he  always  confined  his 
gratuities  to  objects  of  the  glaring,  cap- 
tivating kind,  rather  than  to  those  really 
important,  and  extensively  useful. 

"  That  was  Mr.  H.'s  [Hancock's]  polit- 
ical character  and  conduct,  from  his  first 
introduction  into  publick  life,  to  his  being 
appointed  a  member  of  Congress,  I  verily 
believe;  and  I  would  refer  those  who 
may  doubt  it,  to  Mr.  S.  A.  [Samuel  Ad- 
ams], and  others,  who  were  his  political 
creators  and  supporters,  who  knew  every 
thing  that  took  place  at  that  time,  and 
who  have  spoken  freely  and  openly  of 
his  demerits.  I  would  also  refer  them  to 
the  letters  of  Hutchinson^  Bernard^  and 
others,  which  have  been  published,  for 
the  proof  of  his  wavering  repeatedly,  as 
to  the  side  he  should  take;  and  for  their 
[     131     ] 


STEPHEN   HIGGINSON 

ideas,  as  to  his  firmness  or  integrity.  And 
yet,  it  was  during  this  very  period  that 
he  is  said  to  have  deserved  so  much  of 
the  publick,  and  to  have  conferred  such 
obligations  as  can  never  be  repaid.  But  I 
now  call  on  his  advocates  to  state  the  im- 
portant transactions  he  there  performed, 
or  to  show  us  how  and  in  what  instances 
he  wasted  his  property  to  serve  the  pub- 
lick,  more  than  others  did,  of  much  less 
estate  than  he  enjoyed."' 

Elsewhere  he  goes  on: — 

"  Mr.  H.  [Hancock]  was,  as  we  have 
seen,  at  the  early  part  of  our  contest  with 
Britain,  a  young  man  with  a  very  large 
fortune,  and  some  exterior  qualities  well 
enough  adapted  to  form  a  popular  charac- 
ter; but  with  a  disposition  so  very  capri- 
cious, susceptible  of  flattery,  and  prone  to 
vanity,  it  was  very  difficult  to  keep  him 
steady  and  to  render  him,  with  all  the  ad- 
vantages he  possessed,  beneficial  to  the 

*  Writings  of  Laco  (Boston,  Original  Edition,  1789),  pp.  4>  S* 
[       132      ] 


LACO  AND   HIS   LETTERS 

public.  These  obstacles,  however,  did  not 
discourage  the  once  venerable  old  patriot, 
and  his  compeers  in  politicks,  from  per- 
severing in  their  object  of  making  him 
a  useful  agent  in  the  cause;  and  they  suc- 
ceeded, after  much  labour  and  watching, 
so  far  as  to  fix  him  on  their  side,  and  to 
give  him  importance  in  the  eyes  of  the 
people.  But  they  were  much  disappointed, 
in  the  degree  of  advantage  they  derived 
from  his  being  eventually  with  them.  They 
could  draw  no  aids  from  his  fortune  to  re- 
lieve the  pressing  exigencies  of  the  State; 
nor  could  they  restrain  his  vanity,  to  make 
him  act  with  consistency,  decision  or  dig- 
nity: and,  we  have  accordingly  seen,  that 
from  his  first  entering  into  publick  life, 
to  his  return  from  Congress,  he  always 
required  a  steady  hand  and  a  vigilant  eye, 
to  prevent  him  from  running  into  the 
utmost  excess  of  levity,  or  personal  selfish- 
ness. We  might  reasonably  have  pre- 
sumed, that  the  precepts  and  examples  of 
[     133     ] 


STEPHEN   HIGGINSON 

the  patriots  who  brought  him  forward  and 
supported  him  in  publick  life  would  have 
had  some  effect  upon  Mr.  H.  and  that  his 
natural  levity  would  have  been  checked, 
by  several  years'  intercourse  with  such 
characters.  But  we  find  he  had  so  long  in- 
dulged his  various  passions,  and  had  been 
so  pampered  by  a  tribe  of  sycophants,  who 
were  always  around  him,  that  he  became 
extremely  averse  to  every  thing  serious, 
and  soon  got  to  be  a  bitter  enemy  to  those 
who  attempted  to  arrest  his  attention,  even 
for  a  moment  to  matters  of  importance. 
Conscious  of  his  own  want  of  merit,  and 
persuaded  that  every  thoughtful,  steady 
man  must  soon  grow  weary  of  his  being 
in  the  chair,  and  wish  to  displace  him,  he 
made  an  implicit  obedience  to  his  will, 
and  devotedness  to  his  interest  the  only 
conditions  upon  which  he  would  appoint 
to  office,  and  he  used  his  prerogative  as 
a  weapon  of  defence,  to  encourage  those 
who  were  enlisted  in  his  service,  and  to 
[     134     ] 


LACO  AND   HIS   LETTERS 

annoy  or  intimidate  those,  who  appeared 
to  be  startled  or  grieved  at  his  excesses. 
Hence  proceeded  that  swarm  of  unworthy 
officers,  in  the  various  branches  of  the 
Executive  department,  who  disgraced  the 
Government,  and  preyed  upon  the  people, 
until  they  grew  uneasy,  and  were  ripe  for 
rebellion.  When  the  natural  effects  of  his 
own  foibles  became  visible,  and  he  saw 
that  his  downfall  was  at  hand,  he  endeav- 
oured to  save  himself,  and  revive  his  popu- 
larity by  the  stale  artifice  of  appearing 
desirous  of  returning  to  the  state  of  a  pri- 
vate citizen.  This  failed  him,  and  he  was 
deeply  provoked  and  mortified  to  find 
himself  reduced  to  a  situation,  in  which 
he  was  deprived  of  the  pageantry  of  State, 
and  the  glare  of  office,  which  used  to  veil 
his  defects  from  the  eyes  of  the  multitude; 
and  he  soon  set  himself  most  industriously 
at  work,  to  increase  the  popular  irritation, 
which  he  had  before  excited  by  improper 
appointments.  The  distressing  effects  of 
[     135     ] 


STEPHEN   HIGGINSON 

late  insurrections,  which  we  still  feel,  or 
recollect,  ought  to  rouse  our  indignation 
against  Mr.  H.  and  his  adherents,  who, 
wantonly,  or  rather  selfishly,  involved  us 
in  that  dreadful  situation  by  misrepresenta- 
tions, and  solely  for  the  purpose  of  again 
recovering  the  chair  of  Government.  That 
this  event  was  produced  by  their  agency, 
cannot  be  doubted,  when  we  recollect 
their  conduct  and  language  at  that  time 
—  that  he  was  supported  universally  by 
the  insurgents  at  the  next  election  —  that 
papers  with  his  name,  and  that  of  one  of 
his  principal  agents  were  used  as  passports 
through  the  insurgents'  lines,  —  and  that 
even  those  who  were  devoted  to  justice, 
by  the  law  of  their  country,  were  assured 
of  and  enjoyed  his  protection  when  again 
clothed  with  the  prerogative  of  pardon."  ' 
It  is  probable  that  posterity  will  not  be 
closely  affected  by  anything  new  said  to 
limit  the  reputation  of  John  Hancock,  for 

'   Writings  of  Laco,  pp.  36-38. 
[       136       ] 


LACO   AND   HIS   LETTERS 

when  a  man  has  the  good  fortune  to  be 
identified  with  great  events,  and  has  the 
wealth  or  energy  to  make  himself  thus 
useful,  it  is  difficult  for  those  of  the  next 
generation  to  go  behind  these  obvious 
facts.  If  too  severe  reproof  brings  re- 
action, this  was  certainly  the  case  with 
the  Laco  letters.  Loring,  in  his  "  Hun- 
dred Boston  Orators"  (p.  no),  tells  the 
story  that  a  group  of  the  Boston  draymen 
who  were  sturdy  partisans  of  Hancock 
trained  a  parrot  to  shout  after  Higginson, 
as  he  walked  down  State  Street,  "  Hurrah 
for  Hancock  !  Down  with  Laco  ! "  My 
last  surviving  uncle,  James  P.  Higginson, 
told  me  that  he  had  never  heard  his  father 
mention  the  subject;  but  that  he  himself, 
walking  in  the  street  with  him,  had  heard 
the  schoolboys  say,  "  There  goes  Laco  ! " 
The  fact  that  he  lived  in  an  atmosphere 
thus  unfavorable  might  prove  that  the 
man  thus  designated  was  unpopular,  but 
would  not  necessarily  prove  him  to  be 
[     137     ] 


STEPHEN   HIGGINSON 

wrong.  As  a  matter  of  fact  —  as  the  next 
chapter  will  show  —  his  standing  among 
his  fellow  citizens  was  never  higher  or 
his  variety  of  functions  more  marked  than 
when  he  had  thus  defined  his  attitude 
toward  Hancock. 


X 

THE    ISLE    OF    FRANCE 

"  They  order,  said  I,  this   matter  better  in  France." 
Sterne,  Sentimental  Journey,  p.  i. 


I 


THE    ISLE    OF    FRANCE 

THE  following  letter,  now  first 
published,  will  show  admirably 
the  wealth  of  practical  informa- 
tion and  suggestion  which  this  Boston 
merchant  could   give  to  government  :  — 

STEPHEN    HIGGINSON   TO  JOHN    ADAMS 

Boston  17  Jany  1789 
Sir 

You  may  recollect  that  the  Court  of 
France  by  an  edict,  about  2  Years  since, 
opened  a  trade  to  the  Americans  to  Mau- 
ritius and  the  french  Settlements  in  India, 
upon  the  same  terms  as  their  own  Sub- 
jects pursue  it.  This  permission  we  soon 
improved,  &  for  two  Years  past,  many 
vessels  have  gone  to  Port  Louis  in  the 
Isle  of  France  from  different  parts  of  the 
Continent  with  cargos  of  the  various  ex- 
ports from  the  Northern  middle  &  South- 
[     HI     ] 


STEPHEN   HIGGINSON 

ern  States.  We  there  found  a  ready,  &  a 
good  market  for  Beef,  Pork,  Butter  & 
Flour,  dried  &  pickled  fish.  Wheat,  To- 
bacco, Naval  Stores,  &c.  all  the  vessels 
from  this  State  that  have  gone  there,  have 
carried  those  with  some  other  small  Arti- 
cles. Those  from  the  Middle  &  Southern 
States  have  carried  principally  their  own 
particular  exports.  We  have  taken  in  re- 
turn from  thence  Coffee,  Pepper,  Hides, 
Teas  and  the  manufactures  of  India;  & 
some  of  those  articles  have  been  again 
exported  to  Europe  and  the  West  Indies 
with  advantage,  as  Coffee,  Teas,  pepper 
Spices  &  Nankins  &c.  As  the  articles  we 
have  carried  to  the  Isle  of  France,  have 
in  a  good  degree  been  again  exported 
from  thence  to  the  various  markets  in 
India  &c,  where  a  ready  &  extensive  sale 
has  been  found  for  them ;  this  trade 
would  probably  in  a  short  time  take  off 
great  quantities  of  our  american  exports, 
and  give  employ  to  a  great  number  of  our 
[     142    ] 


}/^M^^l 


M^ 


.26. /f^  ^ycTT^A' ^  "  ~  Qv 


y/^^ 


/£-3AyA^/ 


//; 


'¥ 


^•Qd^^^^'' 


THE   ISLE   OF  FRANCE 

men  &  Ships.  We  find  by  calculation  that 
not  less  than  3000  tons  of  Shipping  went 
to  Mauritius  the  last  year  from  America; 
&  this  year  I  think  there  will  be  more 
than  4000  tons  go  there,  besides  those 
Ships  that  have  been  fitted  out  for  China. 
From  these  facts,  I  think  that  a  free 
trade  to  the  Mauritius,  as  was  at  first 
granted,  must  be  very  important  to  Amer- 
ica, for  though  the  markets  in  India  &c., 
which  have  reed  our  exports  from  thence 
may  be  open  to  us,  generally,  it  is  not 
easy  for  us  at  once  to  Supply  them  direct, 
nor  till  we  Shall  have  more  knowledge 
of  their  navigation  &  trade — beside  which 
the  voyages  to  the  Continent  would  be  too 
long  &  tedious,  for  our  common  traders  of 
small  Capitals  to  pursue  them;  those  to 
Mauritius  are  as  much  so,  as  the  persons 
who  have  sent  there  can  in  general  bear. 
To  have  that  or  any  other  branch  of  trade 
so  circumstanced  that  none  but  wealthy 
Individuals,  or  companies  can  pursue  it  is 
[     143     ] 


STEPHEN    HIGGINSON 

not  to  be  desired  upon  public  principles. 
But  this  trade  to  the  Isle  of  France  we 
are  perhaps  in  danger  of  losing,  or  having 
it  so  restricted,  as,  in  a  good  degree,  to  de- 
prive us  of  the  advantages  we  have  been 
led  to  expect   from    it.    The  few  french 
Merchants    who   reside    there,    have    en- 
joyed exclusively  the  Supply  of  that  mar- 
ket with  some  of  the  same  articles  which 
we    carry   there;    &    have   generally  en- 
grossed to  themselves  the  Crops  of  Cof- 
fee, as  well  as  the  India  Exports,  which 
have  been  there  Sold,  by  this  means  they 
have  commanded  their  own  prices  both 
for  their   Supplies  to  their  Planters   and 
transient  Traders,  and  for  the  produce  &c 
exported  from  thence,    we  have  not  only 
undersold  them  in  the  articles  we  have 
carried;  but  by  going  over  to  Bourbon 
where  the  Coffee  is  raised,  and  contract- 
ing with  the  planters,  for  what  we  wanted, 
we   got    it   much    cheaper   than  to   have 
bought    it   at   Port  Louis,  &  taught    the 
[     H4     ] 


THE   ISLE   OF   FRANCE 

planters  to  make  more  of  their  crops  than 
they  had  before  done,  and  deprived  the 
Merchants  at  Port  Louis  of  a  profit  they 
used  to  make  at  the  Planters  expence. 
These  diminutions  of  the  merchants  gains, 
resulting  from  our  trade,  have  made  them 
&  their  connexions  at  L'Orient  very  un- 
easy; &  they  have  combined,  we  are  told, 
to  Suppress,  or  at  least  to  restrain  Our 
Trade  at  that  market,  by  joint  represen- 
tations to  the  Court  of  France.  They 
have,  indeed,  already  prevailed  on  the 
Commandant  at  Port  Louis,  to  prevent 
our  vessels  from  going  to  Bourbon  to  buy 
&  take  in  Coffee;  and  we  now  have  to 
take  it  from  the  Merchants  at  Port  Louis, 
at  the  advanced  price  of  2  ^  to  3  Dollars 
per  C*.  This  restriction  we  might  per- 
haps Support  but  Should  we  be  liable  to 
any  additional  ones  of  moment,  we  may 
be  obliged  to  abandon  the  Trade. 

If  the  french  Government   should   not 
be  misled  by  false  representations,  I  can- 
[     145     ] 


STEPHEN   HIGGINSON 

not  suppose  they  will  subject  us  to  any 
farther  embarrassments;  but  on  the  con- 
trary, by  considering  the  Subject  in  a 
national  &  Political  view,  they  must  be 
disposed  to  encourage  our  Trade,  to  the 
Isle  of  France  in  particular,  &  give  us  all 
that  freedom  which  they  at  first  intended, 
and  we  enjoyed.  The  local  situation  of 
that  Island  is  peculiarly  favourable  to 
annoy  the  British  trade  to  India  &  China, 
and  to  protect  their  own.  It  may  indeed 
be  viewed  as  the  Key  to  both  the  Chinese 
&  Indian  Seas  from  Europe.  No  Ship  can 
pass  for  either  of  them  without  being  in 
a  great  degree  Subject  to  the  Cruisers  Sta- 
tioned at  the  Isle  of  France;  &  if  a  free 
trade  is  permitted  to  us,  they  certainly 
will  have  every  Supply,  &  every  advan- 
tage for  cruising  upon  the  British  from 
thence,  that  Island  will  certainly  Soon 
become  the  Place  of  deposit,  for  Amer- 
ican, Chinese  &  Indian  exports.  We  shall 
carry  to  them,  all  the  various  products  of 
[     146    ] 


THE   ISLE   OF  FRANCE 

America,  that  will  answer  in  those  Seas, 
and  shall  want  in  return  the  produce  &  ex- 
ports of  the  east  —  our  vessels  will  lodge 
the  former,  and  take  the  latter  in  return. 
The  french  Ships,  or  the  natives  from  the 
Continent  will  bring  their  exports,  &  take 
ours  away  for  other  markets.  Such  a  Trade 
will  not  only  employ  the  French  Ships 
in  carrying  our  exports  to  other  Markets 
from  Mauritius,  &  in  bringing  theirs  in 
return  for  us  to  take  away ;  but  very  great 
advantages  beside  must  be  derived  from 
it.  It  is  impossible  but  the  Settlement 
must,  with  such  advantages,  soon  become 
very  wealthy  &  important;  it  will  cer- 
tainly be  resorted  to  by  other  Europeans, 
and  all  the  various  nations  inhabiting  the 
Shores  in  those  Seas.  It  will  in  this  way 
soon  become  the  general  Magazine  for 
Naval  Stores,  &  for  provisions  of  every 
kind.  In  a  political  view,  no  event  can 
be  more  desireable.  It  will  enable  the 
french  to  operate  against  the  british  in 
[     H7     ] 


STEPHEN   HIGGINSON 

any  future  rupture  with  amazing  advan- 
tage. They  will  then  have  an  important 
Port  filled,  not  only  with  Provisions  &  mil- 
itary Stores,  but  with  Active  enterprizing 
&  wealthy  inhabitants. 

Should  the  immediate  effect  of  our 
trade  be  to  Supplant,  or  even  to  ruin  the 
few  Merchants  now  residing  at  Port 
Louis,  it  would  be  of  no  moment  in  a 
national  view,  since  it  must  inevitably 
establish  great  numbers  in  their  Stead. 
But  even  this  cannot  happen,  unless  from 
their  own  folly  &  imprudence,  for  though 
they  may  be  deprived,  by  means  of  our 
trade,  of  the  profits  on  the  business  they 
before  pursued;  the}^  certainly  may  avail 
themselves  in  Common  with  others,  of  the 
many  new  openings  for  beneficial  Com- 
merce, which  result  from  it. 

It  appears  to  me  that  the  french  Court 

acted  with  great  wisdom  and  policy  when 

they  open'd  those  ports  to  us;  &  the  same 

principles  which   induced  them  to  do  it, 

[     148     ] 


THE   ISLE   OF   FRANCE 

will  retain  their  weight  in  favour  of  the 
measure,  while  the  trade  of  Europe  with 
India,  China  and  the  relative  Interests  of 
France  &  Britain,  in  those  Seas  remain 
as  they  now  are:  and  if  I  am  not  mis- 
taken, as  to  the  views  &  Intent  of  the 
french  Court,  upon  this  Subject,  there  can 
be  no  doubt  of  Mr  Jefferson  being  able 
to  prevent  any  new  restrictions  upon  our 
vessels,  &  to  obtain  for  them  the  same 
liberty  which  they  at  first  enjoyed. 

With  these  sentiments,  as  to  the  im- 
portance of  a  free  trade  to  those  Seas,  I 
thought  it  could  not  be  improper  to  State 
to  you  the  foregoing  facts  &  observations. 
Should  they  have  weight  in  your  mind, 
you  may  perhaps  advance  the  Interest  of 
America  by  making  some  representation 
to  Mr.  Jefferson  on  the  Subject. 

With  much  respect  I  have  the  honour 
to  be  Sir  your  very  humble  Servant 

Stephen  Higginson.' 

'  Jefferson  Papers,  Library  of  Congress,  series  2,  vol.  i,  no.  62. 


XI 

MUNICIPAL  LIFE  IN  BOSTON 

(1790-1804) 

"The  public  mind,  to  judge  from  this  part  of  the  Union, 
has  kept  pace  with  the  times."  —  Stephen  Higginson,  i^go, 
MS. 


MUNICIPAL  LIFE  IN  BOSTON 

IT  appears  from  Stephen  Higginson's 
letters  to" General  Knox  that  he  took 
a  more  favorable  view  of  the  future 
than  that  held  by  most  of  the  Federalists. 
The  following  letter,  dated  April  7,  1790, 
deals  with  this  matter  far  more  cheerfully 
than  was  common  among  that  waning  class 
during  this  period  :  — 

"The  Sentiments  you  express,  as  to  the 
future  prospects  of  Our  Country  are  very 
natural,  when  judging  by  the  past,  and 
reasoning  from  analogy,  in  that  view  of 
the  Subject,  there  appears  too  much  reason 
to  fear  yet  farther  fluctuations,  if  not 
changes,  in  the  tempers,  and  dispositions 
of  the  people  toward  the  Government  of 
the  Union.  But  it  appears  to  me,  that  a 
general  alteration  in  the  habits  and  feelings 
of  the  people  has  taken  place  for  the  better; 
[     153     ] 


STEPHEN   HIGGINSON 

and  that  many  new  circumstances  have 
arisen;  tending  to  increase  the  force  and 
respectability  of  Government,  and  to  give 
a  strong  impression  of  the  necessity  of  its 
being  supported.  —  Habits  of  industry  and 
frugality  are  taking  place  of  those  of  luxury 
and  dissipation,  more  generally  and  with 
more  celerity  than  I  expected,  it  is  a 
growing  Idea,  that  the  manners  contracted 
during  the  War  must  be  done  away;  and 
that  every  Class  of  Citizens  must  expect 
only  to  thrive  by  the  means  cornonly  suc- 
cessful in  a  time  of  peace. — With  such 
Sentiments  impressed  on  the  minds  of  the 
body  of  the  people,  and  the  advantages  they 
will  derive  soon  from  the  System  proposed 
by  the  Secretary  of  the  treasury,  and  from 
some  general  commercial  Arrangements, 
which  may  soon  be  expected,  the  situation 
of  individuals  will  become  more  easy  and 
eligible,  and  private  happiness  be  more 
generally  enjoyed,  from  the  same  causes, 
I  expect,  the  Government  will  be  gradu- 
[     154     ] 


MUNICIPAL  LIFE   IN   BOSTON 

ally  increas'g  in  its  energy  and  dignity,  and 
will  daily  extend  its  protection  and 
blessings. — The  public  mind,  to  judge 
from  this  part  of  the  Union,  has  kept  pace 
with  the  times;  and  has  been  prepared, 
with  wonderful  success  and  facility,  for 
new  Events,  there  seems  to  be  a  general 
conviction,  that  the  Union  must  be  sup- 
ported, as  the  alone  Source  of  national 
Security;  and  that  every  burthen  neces- 
sary to  the  Object  must  be  cheerfully 
bourne. " ' 

Toward  the  close  of  1791,  Stephen 
Higginson  was  appointed  a  member  of  a 
committee  of  twenty-one""  whose  chairman 
was  Charles  Jarvis,  a  leader  of  the  Jeffer- 
son Party  and  which  contained  also  Judge 
Dawes,  Judge  Tudor,  the  young  John 
Quincy  Adams  and  others,  to  consider  the 
existing  state  of  the  town  of  Boston  and 
report  some  plan  for  a  more  efficient  man- 

'  American  Historical  Association  Report.^  1896,  i,  781. 
*  QvLincy's  Municipal  History  0/ Boston,  p.  25,  note. 

[      155      ] 


STEPHEN   HIGGINSON 

agement  of  its  affairs.  There  had  been  a 
previous  committee,  with  Samuel  Adams 
as  chairman,  which  had  vainly  striven  to 
substitute  a  city  organization  for  a  town 
government,  the  population  being  then 
about  twenty  thousand.  This  second  com- 
mittee reported  a  somewhat  modified  plan, 
but  also  failed  in  town  meeting,  and  after 
two  other  similar  attempts  the  measure 
was  carried  in  1822,  when  Dr.  John  Phil- 
lips, father  of  Wendell  Phillips,  was  chosen 
the  first  mayor  of  Boston.' 

When,  in  1794,  an  embargo  for  sixty 
days  was  ordered  by  Congress  in  the  hope 
of  inducing  Great  Britain  to  cease  her  de- 
predations through  the  fear  of  impoverish- 
ing her  colonies,  a  meeting  was  called  of 
the  citizens  of  Boston  to  endorse  the  meas- 
ure. This  was  done  with  some  unanimity, 
but  there  was  some  earnest  discussion 
between  Sullivan,  Jarvis,  and  Austin,  in 
the  affirmative,  and  Jones,  Higginson,  and 

'  Compare  Amory's  Sullivan,  i,  265. 

[     >56     ] 


MUNICIPAL  LIFE   IN   BOSTON 

Otis,  on  the  other  side,  who  desired  to 
state  the  wish  more  moderately.  Some 
of  the  more  positive  opponents  of  the 
measure  claimed  it  to  be  urged  with  a 
view  to  obstruct  the  supply  of  provision 
to  the  British  forces  in  the  West  Indies, 
then  engaged  in  hostilities  with  the  French 
republic.  The  embargo,  however,  failed  of 
its  object,  the  colonies  suffering  much  less 
inconvenience  than  had  been  anticipated." 
The  following  is  quoted  from  the  life 
of  James  Sullivan  by  the  patient  pen  of 
the  late  Thomas  C.  Amory:  "The  feder- 
alists, in  the  spring  of  1796,  endeavored 
through  their  journals,  to  induce  Governor 
Adams,  upon  the  ground  of  his  increas- 
ing age  [seventy-five]  and  infirmities  to 
decline  a  reelection.  ...  At  the  com- 
mencement of  1797,  however,  when  the 
administration  of  Washington  drew  to  its 
close.    Governor    Adams    determined    to 

*  Amory's  Sullivan ,  i,  291  ;  American  Cyclopedia,  article 
"  Embargo." 

[       157      ] 


STEPHEN   HIGGINSON 

retire;  and  the  public  mind  in  Massachu- 
setts was  much  exercised  in  selecting  from 
the  leading  politicians  of  the  State  the  most 
suitable  candidate  to  fill  his  place.  Judge 
Gushing,  Judge  Sumner,  General  Knox, 
General  Heath,  Moses  Gill,  and  Stephen 
Higginson  were  among  the  most  promi- 
nent. The  canvass  finally  settled  down 
upon  Sumner,  Sullivan,  and  Gill." ' 

Young  readers  of  the  present  day  always 
find  it  hard  to  recognize  the  existence,  after 
the  withdrawal  of  Washington  from  the 
presidency,  of  a  dissatisfied  minority  from 
which  personal  attacks  on  Washington 
continued  to  come.  This  is  well  brought 
out  in  a  letter  from  Stephen  Higginson  to 
Timothy  Pickering  on  the  approach  of 
Washington's  birthday. 

Boston  Feby  22-98. 
...  I  have  been  much   diverted  at  a 
discussion  here  as  to  the  propriety  of  cele- 

'  Amory's  Sullivan,  ii,  54. 
[       158       ] 


KNOW  all  Men  by  tbeje  Prefents, 

That  \y '//Q^/r'^i^  O^^^^  ^^^^^;;^  /^^rr7c^L^...t-^t:Zii4.  e/<^^'''^/^''<^^cf 


in  Lon'i'.icration 


the  Receipt  whereof  t/  tla  hcrc'jyacknowIe\i^C;  do  hereby  give,  gr^nr,  fclj  and  convey  unto  the 

^/lauf.  ^r    .'\/ii^y  ^a^^*^-    Aet^^y-,a^U  An^  ^c^r^^  ^n^"^^  iL//ft^JS-   .ai;^;^^^    2Z.^» 


*/erz^^rt^ — ^ 


'tL^e^T. 


TO  HAVE  AND  TO  IIOT.D  the  aforc-grsnted  rrcmifcsto  the  fiid*^.^...^  6^x//^(tJi  t  n^ 
■" i^jZyt^c^£/y-^^^^^iyy/A-A'^C\xi  and  Al]i;4;.?,  to    /?f.t.<^___  .__..    Ufe  and  Behoof  lurevcr. 

And  o^    Ho  covriUrvT  with  t^ie  faij  J^iL,^wt^.«-^  4^-  Q ''%/--  f-r-u 
/At^    IIcir;rinJ  Allans   i  .v.:  ./a^t^z,  lavvfiilly  feizcd  in  Fee  of  tlic  .ifore-jjrante  U'remifcs  ; 
That  tn  ■','  ire  irce  ot  a'i  ineii.ubranees  ;    Tiiat  //     have  good  Ki^^lu  to  fell  and  convey  the 
fame  to  the  faiJ    (i/i:i^rr> ^^^,  ■e-i     i^  oy^^c^i  ^^r^ 

And  that  t/   will  v.-arrant  anri  defend  the  famePrcmifes  to  the  fiid  t/^ T-^i^t-'t^  i^'-^^yA^.^^. 
<i^^^^       Heirs  and  AfTijjnsf.ircvcr.a^aini'l  tlie  lawfulClaimsandDcmands  of  ail  Pcrfons. 
_     WiTNEis  v/iif.r. i.oi-,  t/     the  faid  ;7^^^.,7^  .^^.^  4^ &'■-<-  -^'^'y  ^yc'c/^'-'  ^^•^ 

|iavc   hereunto   fct  <«-*^   Kand^f  and  Scal/4  this '»^*'«>-^>-"^'^       Day  of  Q-/«^ 
in  the  Year  of  our  Lofi  tj  O/Jt  'Thoafar.J  Sc^en  Hundred  and  Ninc.y  ^y/U^ 


^^^tP^^^  ~'M^  /^^"^^^^  ^^.^ 


J^ol/(    ^  ff.    J7o^n^   f.c&y   q //^  i-jy^  I'HEN Ihe  abovt-mmfd 

the  aWct  Ir.jltumc!^  to  he  Ji^     free  Acl  and  Deed — befcre  me, 


MUNICIPAL  LIFE  IN  BOSTON 

brating  M'  Washingtons  birth  day  by  a 
public  Dinner  as  usual,  by  some  it  is  op- 
posed as  being  antirepublican,  by  others 
because  he  is  now  only  a  public  Citisen, 
and  others  thought  it  improper  and  indeli- 
cate, and  might  hurt  the  presidents  feelings, 
in  short  it  has  divided  our  friends  more 
than  any  such  question  ever  did  before, 
my  own  opinion  was  that  it  would  be  im- 
proper, unless  it  was  intended  to  keep  the 
presidents  birth  day  also,  when  it  comes 
round.  But  in  the  present  state  of  things, 
and  whilst  a  french  faction  shall  continue 
in  our  Country,  so  formidable  and  so  ready 
to  calumniate  Mr.  W :  and  Mr.  A :  with  their 
friends  and  their  measurs,  it  may  be  use- 
ful to  notice  them  both  in  this  and  in  every 
other  way,  which  will  express  strongly  the 
respect  of  the  people  for  their  characters 
and  their  approbation  of  public  measures, 
it  may  indeed  be  eligible  to  keep  this  cus- 
tom up,  though  we  may  hereafter  have 
a  president  less  respected  and  celebrated, 
[     159     ] 


STEPHEN   HIGGINSON 

and  though  it  may  not  appear  to  comport 
with  the  republican  Ideas.  —  Although  Mr. 
W:  is  out  of  office,  3'et  he  is  still  the  ob- 
ject of  Jacobin  malice,  for  the  System  of 
policy  which  all  good  men  approve,  and 
which  Mr.  A:  has  with  so  much  firmness 
and  spirit  supported,  many  were  unwilling 
to  drop  at  this  moment  all  public  expres- 
sions of  their  love  and  respect  for  him.  — 
it  has  been  decided  upon  this  view  of  the 
question  to  keep  up  the  notice  of  this 
day,  and  to  be  equally  attentive  to  Mr.  A. 
when  his  birth  day  arrives  ;  and  it  will 
be  here  generally  observed  in  the  usual 
Stile.— 

I  mention  this  as  an  evidence  of  the 
proness  there  is  among  our  friends  to  di- 
vide upon  smaller  points,  and  the  difficulty 
there  is  to  keep  them  united  for  want  of 
system  and  discipline,  in  this  respect  the 
Jacobins  have  greatly  the  advantage. 

Wishing  you   as    much   enjoyment   as 
[     160     ] 


MUNICIPAL   LIFE   IN   BOSTON 

your  situation  and   its   duties  will   admit, 

I    am  respectfully  your  friend    and  very 

hum.  serv. 

Stephen  Higginson.' 

It  is  pretty  plain  that  a  thoroughly  trained 
Federalist  like  Stephen  Higginson  must 
have  kept  his  business  and  his  politics 
somewhat  apart.  This  is  shown,  at  least, 
by  a  letter  from  him  to  Messrs.  LeRoy, 
Bayard,  and  McEvers,  Boston,  September 
1 2, 1 799,  showing  that  he  supplied  the  arms 
for  the  arsenal  which  the  State  of  Virginia 
had  lately  voted.  John  Randolph  in  the 
United  States  House  of  Representatives, 
nearly  twenty  years  after,  spoke  of  this 
armory  as  having  been  erected  to  provide 
the  Virginians  with  arms  in  order  to  resist 
Federal  encroachments.  But  this  was 
expressly  contradicted  by  Messrs.  John  G. 
Jackson  and  James  Pleasants  of  Virginia  in 
the  same  debate,  and  even  the  Federalists 

'  American  Historical  Association  Report,  i8g6,  i,  8oi,  802. 
[      161      ] 


STEPHEN  HIGGINSON 

at  that  day  certainly  did  not  deny  the  right 
of  each  State  to  possess  its  own  arsenal. 

Boston  Sep.  12,  1799 
Mess  LeRoy  Bayard 

and  McEvERS  — 
Sirs 

We  have  received  your  letter  of  5  th 
instant,  and  note  that  the  arms  reed,  by  the 
Prosper  were  on  board  a  vessel  for  Rich- 
mond and  that  you  had  paid  the  freight  of 
them  from  Hamburg  $498.33.  but  we  hope 
that  you  will  get  information  from  Rich- 
mond before  they  go  from  you,  whether 
they  will  be  received,  for  the  reasons  as- 
signed in  our  last,  if  any  objection  is  made 
to  the  quality  &c  we  had  rather  have  the 
arms  with  you  than  in  Richmond,  indeed 
there  will  be  less  danger  of  objections 
when  they  know  they  are  retained  to  hear 
how  the  parcel  from  Baltimore  is  received 
and  approved. 

We  have  insured  the  arms  here  from 
[     »62     ] 


MUNICIPAL  LIFE  IN   BOSTON 

the  port  of  entry  to  Richmond  in  whatever 
vessel  they  may  go,  as  we  are  to  deliver 
them  there  free  of  risk  or  expense  at  con- 
tract price. 

•  ••••••• 

Your  hum  Ser 

Stephen  Higginson* 

It  would  appear  from  the  following  letter 
that  the  supply  of  arms  from  Europe  proved 
unsatisfactory,  not  being  in  accordance 
with  the  sample,  and  it  was  suggested  as 
being  desirable  to  offer  them  to  Toussaint 
L'Ouverture  as  shown  in  the  following 
letter,  to  Timothy  Pickering:  — 

Boston  Sept.  20''  99 
Dr  Sir  : 

I  received  your  letter  of  the  12*^  in- 
stant and  have  reflected  upon  the  subject; 
and  I  think  that,  with  the  aid  of  the  Herald, 
and  the  permission  of  the  Secretary  of  the 

'  American  Historical  Association  Report ^  1896,  i,  824. 
[      163      ] 


STEPHEN    HIGGINSON 

navy,  I  can  arrange  to  furnish  Touissaint 
with  some  arms,  lead  and  flints. —  I  have 
a  consignment  of  4000  stands  from  Europe 
intended  for  the  state  of  Virginia  on  Con- 
tract, according  to  a  sample  in  the  hands 
of  the  Executive,  a  part  of  them  have  been 
delivered  at  Richmond,  1320  Arms  and 
1536  Cartridge  Boxes,  which  do  not  prove 
so  well  finished  as  the  sample  and  are  re- 
jected, though  confessedly  very  good  and 
from  one  of  the  best  factories  in  Prussia, 
the  rest  are  on  board  the  Acteon  for  new 
York,  carried  into  England  for  inquiry, 
and  may  daily  be  expected  at  new  York 
if  not  already  there. 

Now  I  propose  to  take  a  small  Brigt,  to 
go  out  with  the  Herald  as  a  Store  Ship, 
to  put  on  board  some  Bread  &c  which  will 
be  wanted  by  our  Ships  on  the  Hispaniola 
Station  —  to  order  round  from  new  York 
the  2680  arms  by  the  Acteon,  to  put  part 
on  board  the  Herald  and  part  in  the  Brigt, 
taking  some  of  the  Herald's  Stores  in  the 
[     164     ] 


MUNICIPAL   LIFE   IN   BOSTON 

Brigt  to  leave  room  and  to  have  the  Brigt 
balasted  with  Lead  which  may  be  done 
without  clearing  it  out;  and  in  case  the 
Acteon  does  not  arrive  in  time  to  send  the 
Arms  here  in  time,  the  Herald  and  Brig* 
may  call  off  new  York,  and  receive  the 
Arms  if  they  are  there  or  if  not  go  on  to 
Hampton  Roads  where  the  other  parcel 
may  be  ready  to  take  in  —  or  both  parcels 
may  be  shipped  in  this  way,  if  the  Acteon 
be  arrived  as  the  Arms  at  Richmond  will 
be  ordered  here,  and  probably  those  by  the 
Acteon  too.  I  can  easily  arrange  so  as  to 
have  one,  if  not  both  parcels  shipped  with- 
out any  delay,  should  those  by  the  Acteon 
not  arrive  at  N.  York  in  time  to  come  here 
before  the  Herald  will  be  ready,  say  20 
days  hence.  This  kind  of  use  of  the  Herald 
is  necessary  to  cover  the  shipment  as  well 
as  to  convey  the  Articles  safe  to  port;  and 
by  this  arrangement  we  can  efTect  the 
shipment  without  militating  with  the  Laws. 
I  must  assume  the  appearance  of  doing  this 
[     165     ] 


STEPHEN   HIGGINSON 

with  the  privity  of  the  government  and  for 
their  use;  but  it  will  not  implicate  the 
Executive  in  any  branch  or  degree,  or  re- 
quire any  direction  or  Act  from  any  one 
to  execute.  But  I  cannot  venture  to  do  this 
without  an  understanding  with  Mr.  Stod- 
dert.'  it  is  a  use  to  be  made  of  a  public 
Ship,  which  as  an  agent  I  ought  not  to 
attempt  without  such  an  understanding, 
which  may  be  conveyed  satisfactorily  to 
me  through  you,  if  it  be  thought  eligible. 
As  yet  no  other  safe  and  easy  mode  has 
occurred  to  me  of  effecting  the  Object; 
which  is  desirable  and  important  in  a  pub- 
lic view;  but  for  all  I  at  present  see,  this 
mode  may  be  adopted  without  involving 
any  serious  difficulty,  it  will  indeed  pass 
off  without  notice  if  well  executed.  But 
to  attempt  to  smuggle  the  Articles  and  be 
detected  would  occasion  much  noise  and 
discussion  and  it  would  render  the  supply 
very  precarious  without  convoy  and  hasard 

*  Secretary  of  the  Navy. 

[     '66     ] 


MUNICIPAL  LIFE   IN   BOSTON 

much  more  clamour,  than  can  possibly  be 
excited  in  the  proposed  mode  —  in  that 
indeed  I  cannot  see  how  any  can  arise, 
nor  even  a  suspicion  as  to  the  Object  till 
after  it  shall  be  effected.  — ' 

It  appears  that  some  correspondence  on 
the  subject  passed  between  him  and  Mr. 
Timothy  Pickering,  as  is  shown  by  the 
following  letter: — 

Boston  Oct.  3"  99. 
D  Sir 

I  received  your  several  Letters  of  last 
month,  your  Opinion  as  to  sending  Arms 
&c  to  Hisp^  in  the  mode  I  suggested  coin- 
cides with  my  own.  upon  reflection  many 
objections  occurred  to  render  it  ineligible, 
though  to  furnish  Touissant  with  the  means 
to  suppress  Rigaut,  appears  evidently  for 
the  interest  of  our  Country.  I  therefore 
have  made  no  preparatory  Arrangements 

*  American  Historical  Association  Report,  1896,  i,  825. 
[      167      ] 


STEPHEN   HIGGINSON 

for  the  object,  and  have  given  over  all 
thoughts  of  doing  anything  myself  in  the 
business.  — ' 

He  appears  to  have  taken,  personally, 
no  more  steps,  though  in  a  later  letter  he 
suggests  to  his  New  York  correspondents 
a  modified  plan  which  they  might,  if  they 
pleased,  carry  out.  But  nothing  more 
came  of  it. 

His  tendency  to  conciliation  evidently 
grew,  as  is  so  apt  to  be  the  case,  with 
advancing  years  and  undoubtedly  led  him 
on  dangerous  ground  upon  the  occasion  of 
the  visit  of  the  French  diplomatist,  Pierre 
Adet,  to  Boston  in  1797.  Adet  became 
minister  to  the  United  States  from  France 
in  1795,  but  two  years  later  broke  off  dip- 
lomatic relations  under  cover  of  a  note  of 
the  Directory,  declaring  that  France  would 
treat  neutrals  as  they  allowed  themselves 
to  be  treated  by  the  English.   While  this 

'  American  Historical  Association  Report,  1896,  i,  827. 
[      168      ] 


MUNICIPAL  LIFE   IN   BOSTON 

matter  was  pending,  he  came  to  Boston 
and  a  reception  was  given  to  him,  which 
was  so  strikingly  characteristic  of  the 
period  in  its  innocent  inflation  that  it  is 
worth  recording  in  full.  The  most  ample 
description  of  it  is  to  be  found  in  the 
"Columbian  Centinel." 

The  fullest  description  of  the  event  is 
as  follows:  — 

A  dinner  was  yesterday  given  by  a 
number  of  the  most  respectable  citizens, 
to  his  Excellency  Citizen  Adet,  French 
Minister,  near  the  United  States.  —  At 
which  were  drank  the  following 

TOASTS : 

1.  The  President. 

2.  The  Republic  of  France  —  The  en- 
ergy of  her  councils  —  The  liberality  of 
her  policy,  and  the  unparalelled  splendor 
of  her  arms. 

[     169     ] 


STEPHEN   HIGGINSON 

3.  The  Vice-President  and  Congress  of 
the  United  States. 

4.  The  Governor  and  Commonwealth 
of  Massachusetts. 

5.  The  Minister  of  France  near  the 
United  States. 

[The  Minister  here  took  occasion  to 
make  the  following  pathetic  address  to 
the  Company:  "The  marks  of  friendship 
with  which  you  overwhelm  me,  I  receive, 
not  so  much  on  my  own  account,  as  on 
that  of  the  nation  I  have  the  honor  of 
representing  —  Whilst  I  testify  at  this 
moment  the  extreme  satisfaction  I  feel  in 
finding  myself  beside  those  citizens  who 
first  raised  the  standard  of  liberty  on  this 
Continent,'  and  who  have  known  so  well 
how  to  defend  it  —  I  seize  the  same  in- 
stant to  assure  you  of  the  affection  I  bear 
to  the  Republic  of  the  United  States, 
being  assured  that  the  Americans  will 
exert   every    effort   to    cement   with   the 

'  [Being  near  Gov.  Adams  and  Gen.  Lincoln.] 
[       170      ] 


MUNICIPAL   LIFE   IN   BOSTON 

people  of  France  an  union,  formed  under 
the  auspices  of  victory,  and  which  the 
blessings  of  liberty  will  from  day  to  day 
consolidate.] 

6.  The  Batavian  Republic  —  May  the 
United  voice  of  her  citizens  soon  give 
stability  to  her  government  and  perpe- 
tuity to  her  liberties. 

7.  Uninterrupted  Peace  and  Friendship 
between  the  three  great  Republics. 

8.  The  Powers  friendly  to  the  United 
States. 

9.  The  Columbsan  \sic\  Fair. 

10.  Our  University  and   all   sources    of 
information. 

11.  The    liberty   of    the   press   and   the 
sacred  right  oi  \sic\  private  opinion. 

12.  Commerce — May  that  of  the  United 
States  be  as  extensive  as  inreresting  \sic\ . 

13.  Agriculture  —  That  source  of  inde- 
pendence and  palladium  of  freedom. 

14.  The    Arts    and    Sciences  —  Those 
luminaries  of  national  glory  —  May  they 

[     ^71     ] 


STEPHEN   HIGGINSON 

be  constantly  adding  new  splendor  to  the 
western  constellation. 

15.  The  Temple  of  Freedom  —  May 
its  Portals  be  the  Poles,  its  Canopy  the 
Heavens  and  its  Votaries  Mankind. 

16.  The  Nations  of  the  Globe  —  May 
their  enlightened  policy,  unclouded  wis- 
dom and  unsullied  justice,  give  Peace, 
Liberty  and  Happiness  to  all  the  world. 

VOLUNTEERS 
The  American,  French,  and  Batavian 
Republics  —  May  they,  by  the  virtues 
which  they  practise,  and  the  happiness 
which  they  exhibit,  attach  all  nations  to 
the  cause  of  social  Liberty  —  Liberty  — 
May  the  mirror  of  Truth  be  her  -^gis, 
and  the  Hydra  of  false  Politics  her  Me- 
dusa's head  —  May  the  Buckler  of  Free- 
dom cover  the  oppressed,  and  her  spear 
be  emblazoned  in  humbling  the  oppressor 
—  Peace  to  the  contending  nations  of  the 
earth  —  May  the  flames  of  War  serve  but 
[    172    ] 


MUNICIPAL   LIFE   IN   BOSTON 

to  light  the  calumet  of  Peace. — All  Man- 
kind—  May  the  exalted  virtue  of  Patri- 
otism itself  be  finally  lost  in  universal 
Philanthropy.' 

"It  is  curious,"  says  a  correspondent 
of  this  same  newspaper,  a  week  later, 
"but  not  very  extraordinary  to  observe 
an  evident  chagrin  discoverable  in  the 
disorganizers  at  the  very  cordial  recep- 
tion which  the  French  Minister  every 
where  meets  with  since  his  arrival  in 
Massachusetts.  It  is  a  happy  circumstance 
that  this  gentleman's  character  is  such 
a  contrast  to  some  others,  that  we  Ameri- 
cans can  testify  that  cordial  regard  and 
steady  friendship  which  is  universally  felt 
in  New-England  towards  the  French 
and  their  cause  without  running  into  that 
excess  of  fermentation  which  from  its 
very  nature  is  short  and  transient.  The 
friendship  of  the  New-Englanders  for  our 

'  Columbian  Centinel,  Sept.  24,  1796. 
[      173      ] 


STEPHEN   HIGGINSON 

illustrious  allies  is  like  that  of  our  great 
Washington,  calm,  sober,  and  lasting, 
and  not  enthusiastic,  flaming,  and  evanes- 
cent. The  Nevj-England  character  is  that 
of  blunt  sincerity,  mixed  with  that  honest 
pride,  which  disdains  to  express  in  words 
or  actions,  what  our  hearts  do  not  feel, 
and  sober  reason  confirm.  —  It  must  be 
gratifying  to  our  very  respectable  visitant 
to  know  that  all  New-England  can  shout 
with  sincerity  vive  la  Republique  Fran- 
caisP ' 

On  another  page  of  the  same  paper  is  a 
Protest  signed  "  A  Federalist "  against "  the 
evident  disrespect  paid  to  the  Proclama- 
tion of  neutrality  issued  by  our  President, 
in  the  address  of  the  Selectmen  to  Citizen 
Adet." 

But  this  gave  clear  room  to  the  keen 
pen  of  John  Qiiincy  Adams,  who  seldom 
missed  an  opportunity  of  making  himself 
even  with  a  critic  and  who  writes  as  fol- 

*  Columbian  Centinel,  Oct.  i,  1796. 
[       174      ] 


MUNICIPAL  LIFE  IN   BOSTON 

lows :  "  Pray  tell  me  entre  nous,  whether 
you  were  one  of  the  citizens  who  frater- 
nized with  Citizen  Adet  at  Concert  Hall  ? 
Whether  Citizen  Lincoln  and  Citizen 
Higginson  were  not  a  little  in  the  com- 
punctions for  the  illegitimate  embraces 
they  gave  and  received  on  that  day? 
They  seemed  to  me  to  be  stolen  amours 
at  the  time.  We  may  smile  a  little  sub 
rosa  at  these  runnings  astray  after  stolen 
waters  of  our  good  friends,  and  merito- 
rious characters.  But  it  is  a  serious 
thing." ' 

To  the  reader  of  the  present  time,  this 
may  seem  mainly  important  as  indicating 
a  tone  of  rhetorical  breadth  which  has 
now  quite  ceased  to  be  palatable.  It  was 
much  better  characterized  by  Fisher  Ames 
as  follows:  — 

"You  will  see  the  toasts  at  a  feast  of 
fraternity  in  Boston  for  M.  Adet;  there  is 

'  President  Adams  to  John  Quincy,  Feb.  21,  1797,  in  E. 
Quincy's  Life  off.  Quincy,  p.  54. 

[       175      ] 


STEPHEN  HIGGINSON 

an  incorrectness  in  them  and  in  the  whole 
business;  some  good  men  incautiously 
yielded  to  the  project  which  the  antis  set 
on  foot,  but  could  not  execute  even  de- 
cently, unless  their  betters  in  character 
and  principle,  should  concur.  A  second 
set  followed  the  first,  who  were  entrapped 
because  they  would  not  leave  them  to  be 
mortified.  This  may  palliate  it  to  you 
and  a  few  others,  but  the  face  of  the 
business  is  bad  and  foolish  at  home  and 
abroad." ' 

Stephen  Higginson  was  brought  in  con- 
tact with  John  Quincy  Adams  some  years 
later  in  a  manner  which  may  or  may  not 
have  healed  the  wound  left  by  the  Adet 
reception,  but  which  does  not  appear  to 
have  left  more  harmonious  results.  In  Mr. 
Adams's  Diary,  he  tells  of  being  called 
upon  in  the  State  Senate  in  February, 
1803,  by  Harrison  Gray  Otis,  with  a  project 
of  a  new  bank  in  Boston.    Otis  stated  that 

*  Gibbs's  Administrations  of  Washington  and  Adams ^  ii,  384. 
[      176      ] 


MUNICIPAL   LIFE   IN   BOSTON 

"  about  twenty  gentlemen  had  met  together 
and  projecting  to  unite  all  the  great  and  re- 
spectable interests  in  the  town  had  chosen 
a  committee  from  among  themselves  to 
offer  the  subscriptions  round  to  every 
gentleman  of  respectable  character,"  no 
person  except  the  original  proprietors 
being  allowed  to  take  over  fifty  shares. 
Mr.  Adams  wished  for  a  more  general  sub- 
scription to  which  Mr.  Otis  strongly  ob- 
jected. Later  Mr.  Higginson,  Mr.  Lyman, 
and  Mr.  Lloyd  also  came  to  him  in  the 
afternoon  on  the  same  matter.  Adams, 
having  stated  his  objections,  found  it,  in 
his  own  words,  a  "subject  of  no  small  dif- 
ficulty how  to  conduct  myself  on  this 
occasion." '  There  was  a  close  vote  on  the 
bill  in  the  State  Senate,  14  to  12,  and  it 
passed  in  the  House,  but  was  reconsidered, 
and  appears  to  have  fallen  through.  We 
can  hardly  appreciate  the  position  held  by 
the  few  banks  in  the  community  without 

'  Memoirs  of  John  Quincy  Adams,  i,  261. 
[       ^11      ] 


STEPHEN   HIGGINSON 

recalling  the  curious  fact  that  at  Harvard 
Commencement  exercises  during  the  eight- 
eenth century  the  four  persons  regularly 
seated  in  state  upon  the  platform  were  the 
Governor  of  the  State,  the  President  of  the 
State  Senate,  the  Speaker  of  the  House, 
and  "  the  President  of  the  Bank."' 

One  of  the  latest  of  Stephen  Higgin- 
son's  letters  now  accessible  is  to  be  found 
among  the  manuscript  Pickering  papers 
of  the  Massachusetts  Historical  Society 
(vol.  xxvii,  p.  57),  relating  to  a  difference 
of  opinion  between  Pickering  and  John 
Quincy  Adams,  then  senator  from  Mas- 
sachusetts, on  the  subject  of  Louisiana. 
Letters  of  Dana  and  Ames  on  the  same 
subject  are  to  be  found  in  the  same  vol- 
ume. The  letter  of  Stephen  Higginson  is 
as  follows,  and  furnishes  one  of  the  most 
piquant  exhibitions  of  the  view  of  John 
Quincy  Adams  which  seems  to  have  been 
taken  by  many  at  that  period. 

'  Knox's  History  of  Banking  (N.  Y.  1900),  p.  359. 
[       178       ] 


MUNICIPAL  LIFE   IN  BOSTON 

Boston,  Feb?  15"  1804. 
D  Sir 

I  received  your  letters  of  Jan^  6  to  i6th, 
which  I  have  been  prevented  from  answer- 
ing sooner  by  sickness.  — 

I  have  shewn  your  Letter  to  Mess"  Ca- 
bot, Ames,  T:  Parsons,  Judge  Dana,  and 
a  number  of  your  friends  beside,  who 
agree  in  Opinion,  that  you  have  been  cor- 
rect in  Sentiment  and  conduct,  and  that 
your  Colleague  has  acted  like  himself.  I 
inclose  you  a  note  from  Dana  and  another 
from  Ames,  which  will  give  you  a  just 
view  of  the  Opinions  of  your  friends  on 
the  subject  of  your  Letter  — 

Mr.  A:  will  continue  to  be,  as  was  ex- 
pected, very  erratic  in  his  Opinions  and 
movements,  like  a  Kite  without  a  Tail, 
he  will  be  violent  and  constant  in  his  at- 
tempts to  rise  ;  but  like  that,  he  will  be 
impelled  by  every  eddy  Wind,  and  will 
pitch  on  one  side  and  on  the  other,  as  the 
popular  Currents  may  happen  to  strike, 
[     179    ] 


STEPHEN   HIGGINSON 

without  soaring  to  his  intended  point,  his 
views  are  ambitious,  even  to  the  Chair  of 
State  ;  but  his  conflicting  passions  will 
lead  him  astray,  and  prevent  his  rising, 
he  looks  constantly  to  the  object  of  his 
wishes  ;  but  his  pride  and  vanity  never 
permit  him  to  use  steadily  the  means  nec- 
essary to  attain  the  end.  his  dispositions 
feelings  and  habits  are  those  of  a  very 
high  toned  Aristocrat ;  but,  in  the  present 
state  of  things,  he  must  rise  by  the  demo- 
cratic Ladder,  or  not  make  any  progress 
in  his  pursuit.  —  with  such  Views  and  feel- 
ings &c,  it  is  very  natural  for  him  at  one 
time  to  court  the  Virginia  democrats,  to 
endeavour  to  concilitate  his  virtuous  breth- 
ren of  Louisiana;  and  at  another  to  seper- 
ate  from,  and  perhaps  affront  both,  to 
shew  his  independence  he  will  beside  be 
often  misled  by  his  visionary  scheme  of 
building  up  a  third  and  independent  party, 
to  controul  both  the  federalists  and  demo- 
crats, both  of  which  he  affects  to  believe 
[     i8o     ] 


MUNICIPAL   LIFE   IN   BOSTON 

are  equally  wrong,  with  this  strange  mix- 
ture of  passion,  and  visionary  schemes, 
unchecked  by  common  sense,  and  prac- 
tical discretion  derived  from  experience 
and  a  knowledge  of  the  world,  you  must 
not  expect  a  steady  coincidence  of  opin- 
ion, and  union  as  to  the  object  and  man- 
ner of  pursuit,  although  you  may  appear 
to  agree  in  your  leading  principles  of  Ac- 
tion. — 

Wishing  as  much  health  and  satisfac- 
tion as  your  present  situation  will  admit 
of,  I  am  very  truly  yours  &c. 

Stephen  Higginson.' 

Another  enterprise  in  which  Stephen 
Higginson  was  involved  at  this  time  was 
one  of  the  very  first  experiinents  at  bank- 
ing in  Massachusetts.  The  early  history 
of  banking  in  these  enterprises  is  now  ad- 

*  American  Historical  Association  Report,  1896,  i,  839,  840, 
841. 

[      181      ] 


STEPHEN   HIGGINSON 

mitted  by  the  most  patient  students  to  be 
almost  impenetrable.  It  is  known  that  the 
Massachusetts  Bank  chartered  in  Boston 
in  1784  was  the  first  local  bank  in  that 
State  and  the  second  in  the  United  States, 
the  Bank  of  Philadelphia  having  been  char- 
tered January  7,  1784.  There  were  indeed 
but  five  banks  in  the  whole  nation  up  to 
1799,  and  in  1805  there  were  but  sixteen. 
It  seems  that  in  1803,  a  law  requiring 
semi-annual  returns  of  conditions  to  the 
Governor  and  Council  was  enacted.  No 
systematic  eflfort  to  collect  statistics  on 
banks  was  imposed  until  1832  and  no  de- 
finite information  concerning  them  seems 
now  accessible. 

Secretary  Crawford  in  1836  admitted 
that  at  that  time  many  of  the  amounts 
given  in  this  direction  were  wholly  con- 
jectural. Mr.  Gouge,  in  his  short  history 
of  paper  money  and  banking  in  the  United 
States,  says  that  all  efforts  to  collect  the 
accounts  of  the  early  banks  had  proved  so 
[     182    ] 


MUNICIPAL   LIFE   IN   BOSTON 

unsatisfactory  that  it  was  "  not  thought 
worth  while  to  arrange  for  publication 
the  materials  that  had  been  procured."* 
After  1799  no  bank  but  that  at  Nantucket 
could  issue  notes  of  less  than  five  dollars, 
this  exception  being  perhaps  on  account 
of  the  whale  fishery.  As  a  result  the  State 
was  flooded  with  small  bills  from  other 
States;  this  again  bringing  such  incon- 
venience in  Massachusetts  that  bank-bills 
for  twenty-five  cents  were  used  every- 
where and  specie  almost  disappeared.  It 
is  hardly  strange  if  it  is  now  impossible  to 
determine  the  fate  of  a  bank  projected  by 
Stephen  Higginson  and  his  fellow  capi- 
talists. 

It  is  in  a  similar  way  a  great  source  of 
regret  that  so  few  of  Stephen  Higginson's 
letters  to  Alexander  Hamilton  appear  in 
the  collections.  It  is  known  that  Hamil- 
ton's son  came  to  Boston,  when  engaged 
in  the  preparation  of  his  memoir  of  his 

*  See  Knox's  History  of  Banking  ij^.  Y.  1900),  p.  307. 
[       ^83       ] 


STEPHEN   HIGGINSON 

father,  and  was  quite  vexed,  it  is  re- 
corded, at  finding  that  his  letters  to  Hig- 
ginson  had  been  burned  by  the  latter,  in 
pursuit  of  a  practice  which  extended  also 
to  George  Cabot,  Jonathan  Jackson,  and 
others;  and  the  few  letters  of  Higginson's 
to  Hamilton  which  are  preserved  are  far 
less  valuable  and  significant,  as  a  whole, 
than  those  addressed  to  others. 


XII 

NAVY   AGENT 
(1798) 

Far  as  the  breeze  can  bear,  the  billows  roam, 
Survey  our  empire  and  behold  our  home !  " 

Byron,  The  Corsair,  I,  i. 


i 


NAVY   AGENT 

IT  is  not  too  much  to  claim  that  Ste- 
phen Higginson  stood  for  many  years 
at  or  near  the  head  of  those  Boston 
merchants,  the  weight  of  whose  judg- 
ment was  fully  recognized  by  the  general 
government,  at  a  time  when  mercantile 
relations  occupied  far  more  of  national 
functions  than  now.  Private  letters  are 
extant  affording  stronger  testimony  of  this 
influence  than  is  to  be  found  in  any  mere 
rumor,  as,  for  instance,  in  this  letter  from 
John  Jay  to  President  Washington:  — 

New  York,  26  January,  1796- 
Dear  Sir, 

The  British   ratification   of   the   treaty 

not  having  arrived,  and  consequently  the 

time  for   appointing   the    Commissioners 

mentioned  in  it  not  being  come,  I  have 

[     187     ] 


STEPHEN   HIGGINSON 

thus  long  postponed  replying  to  yours  of 
the  2ist  of  last  month.  It  certainly  is  im- 
portant that  the  Commissioners  relative 
to  the  debts,  and  also  the  captures,  be 
men  the  best  qualified  for  those  places. 
Probably  it  would  be  advisable  to  appoint 
one  lawyer  and  one  merchant  for  each 
of  them.  The  capture  cases  are  to  be 
decided  in  London.  From  much  that  I 
have  heard,  and  the  little  I  have  observed 
of  Mr.  Higginson,  of  Boston,  I  am  in- 
duced to  think  him,  as  a  merchant,  the 
best  qualified  of  any  I  am  acquainted 
with;  and  the  mass  of  the  captures  being 
from  the  Eastern  and  Middle  States,  it 
would  perhaps  be  most  satisfactory  that 
the  Commissioners  should  be  from  those 
countries.  With  him  I  should  be  inclined 
to  join  Mr.  King,  or  Mr.  Dexter,  or  per- 
haps Mr.  Smith  of  South  Carolina.' 

It  was   only  natural  that  under  these 

'  Sparks's  Correspondence  of  the  American  Revolution,  iv,  479. 
[       188      ] 


NAVY   AGENT 

circumstances  the  government  should 
look  toward  Stephen  Higginson,  after  his 
years  of  nautical  life,  for  active  partici- 
pation in  creating  an  American  navy. 
How  great  was  the  opposition  brought 
out  by  the  first  efforts  in  this  direction 
will  be  best  indicated  by  the  following 
extract  from  a  speech  of  William  Mac- 
lay,  who  with  Robert  Morris  represented 
Pennsylvania  in  the  first  United  States 
Senate:  "It  is  the  design  of  the  Court 
party  [referring  to  those  who  wished  the 
new  government  to  conform  as  much  as 
possible  to  the  monarchical  ideas  of  the 
Old  World]  to  have  a  fleet  and  an  army. 
This  is  but  the  entering  wedge  of  a  new 
monarchy  in  America,  after  all  the  blood- 
shed and  sufferings  of  a  seven  years'  war 
to  establish  a  republic.  The  Indian  War 
is  forced  forward  to  justify  our  having  a 
standing  army,  and  eleven  unfortunate 
men  now  in  slavery  in  Algiers  is  the  pre- 
text for  fitting  out  a  fleet."  In  another 
[     189     ] 


STEPHEN   HIGGINSON 

place  he  says :  '*  This  thing  of  a  fleet  has 
been  working  among  our  members  all  the 
session.  I  have  heard  it  break  out  often. 
It  is  another  menace  to  our  republican 
institutions." ' 

The  author  of  "  Familiar  Letters  on  Pub- 
lic Characters,"  William  Sullivan,  a  man 
of  great  ability  and  integrity,  but  a  bitter 
Federalist,  says  of  Stephen  Higginson, 
"  He  was  navy  agent  of  the  United  States 
from  the  first  beginning  of  the  navy  until 
he  was  dismissed  to  accommodate  one  of 
Mr.  Jefferson's  partisans."  It  is  fair  to  say 
at  this  point  that  Mr.  Sullivan  here  goes 
quite  too  far  and  is  unjust,  not  merely  to 
President  Jeff  erson,  but  more  particularly 
to  the  newly  appointed  Secretary  of  the 
Navy,  Benjamin  Stoddert.  The  case  was 
a  very  simple  one.  The  first  Secretary  of 
the  Navy  appointed  was  George  Cabot. 
He  declined    the  office,  however,  under 

*  William  Maclay's  y«<r«a/,  p.  383. 
^  Sullivan's  Familiar  Letters,  p.  381. 

[       190       ] 


NAVY   AGENT 

circumstances  stated  in  the  following  cor- 
respondence, when  the  very  existence  of 
the  new-born  Navy  Department  was  at 
stake.  The  position  will  be  best  under- 
stood by  reading  the  following  letters 
which  passed  between  Pickering  and 
Cabot:  — 


PICKERING   TO    CABOT 

Department  of  State,  May  5,  1798. 
Sir,  —  The  President  of  the  United 
States  being  desirous  of  availing  the  pub- 
lic of  your  services  as  Secretary  of  the 
Navy  of  the  United  States,  I  have  now  the 
honor  of  enclosing  the  commission,  and  of 
expressing  the  sentiments  of  respect  with 
which  I  am,  sir,  your  obedient  servant, 
Timothy  Pickering. 

Then  follows  a  private  letter  accom- 
panying the  official  one.  It  begins  as 
follows:  — 

[     191     ] 


STEPHEN   HIGGINSON 

Sir,  —  I  cannot  transmit  your  com- 
mission, without  expressing  my  individual 
wishes  that  you  would  accept  the  office  of 
Secretary  of  the  Navy  of  the  United  States. 
I  know  at  the  same  time  that  you  cannot 
accept  it  without  making  some  sacrifices  ; 
but  our  present  situation  demands  this  as 
a  duty  from  every  citizen,  and  especially 
from  those  who  are  eminently  qualified  to 
contribute  to  the  safety  and  prosperity  of 
our  country.  In  this  new  office,  the  Pre- 
sident wishes  to  find  not  only  a  person  of 
practical  knowledge  in  maritime  affairs, 
but  a  statesman  ',  and  how  seldom  can 
these  two  characters  be  found  combined 
in  one  person?  In  every  character,  public 
and  private,  you  know  how  happy  those 
of  us  whom  you  are  already  acquainted 
with  would  be  made  by  your  acceptance 
of  the  office.  The  public  advantages  to  be 
derived  from  your  conducting  the  depart- 
ment you  can  fully  estimate,  and  your 
friends  have  anticipated.  Although  the 
[     192     ] 


NAVY   AGENT 

formation  of  a  navy  has  been  contemplated 
these  four  years,  it  is  at  the  present  mo- 
ment only  that  the  establishment  may  be 
considered  as  commencing,  and  it  is  of 
vast  importance  that  the  foundation  be 
well  laid,  —  that  the  first  institutions  and 
regulations  be  adjusted  in  the  best  manner 
to  its  present  most  efficient  use  and  future 
prospering.  I  will  suggest  but  one  other 
consideration.  If  you  decline  taking  the 
office,  where  will  your  country  find  a  sub- 
stitute ?  There  is  not  one  in  Philadelphia, 
and  you  will  readily  believe  there  is  no 
one  southward  of  it ;  and,  if  you  fix  your 
eye  on  anyone  to  the  eastward,  will  you 
propose  to  yourself  these  questions  ;  "Can 
he  relinquish  his  private  affairs  more  con- 
veniently than  I  ?  Can  he  accept  the  office 
without  making  greater  sacrifices  than  I 
must  make?  In  a  word,  is  it  the  duty  of 
any  citizen  more  than  mine  to  perform  this 
indispensable  public  service?"' 

*  Lodge's  Life  of  Cabot,  p.  155. 
[       193      ] 


STEPHEN   HIGGINSON 

The  following  is  Cabot's  answer:  — 

CABOT   TO    PICKERING 

Brookline,  May  ii,  1798. 

My  dear  Sir,  —  By  the  same  mail 
which  brought  me  your  official  letter  of 
the  5th,  I  received  a  private  one  to  which 
I  feel  anxious  to  make  a  satisfactory  reply. 
Although  it  is  true  that  my  inclinations, 
habits,  duties,  and  interests  all  remarkably 
concur  in  confining  me  to  private  life,  and 
although  in  consequence  of  this  I  have 
been  continually  growing  less  fit  for  any 
public  station  where  great  efficiency  is 
required,  yet  such  is  my  zeal  to  maintain 
the  political  institutions  of  our  country, 
and  thus  preserve  the  country  itself,  that 
I  should  not  at  this  moment  hesitate  to 
engage  in  the  office  to  which  I  am  invited, 
if  I  were  not  perfectly  convinced  that  the 
service  is  beyond  my  strength. 

I   have   seen  with  a  painful  sympathy, 
the  tasks  which  our  executive  officers  are 
[     194    ] 


GEORGE    CABOT 


NAVY   AGENT 

called  to  perform,  and  have  often  made 
the  reflection  that,  if  they  were  not  capable 
of  the  most  intense  and  persevering  ap- 
plication, the  public  business  must  suflTer. 
I  have  seen  with  pride,  however,  that  the 
affairs  of  our  executive  government  have 
been  conducted  with  a  degree  of  order, 
intelligence,  and  steadiness  that  do  great 
honor  to  the  nation;  but  I  must  be  allowed 
to  say  that  I  am  incapable  of  imitating 
those  efforts  which  in  others  have  been 
productive  of  so  much  good.  This  is  a 
circumstance  so  important  that,  in  my 
estimation,  it  greatly  outweighs  the  advan- 
tage of  any  practical  knowledge  which  a 
person  could  be  supposed  to  bring  into 
the  office.  It  is  undoubtedly  requisite  that 
the  officer  at  the  head  of  the  naval  depart- 
ment should  possess  considerable  know- 
ledge of  maritime  affairs;  but  this  should 
be  elementary  as  well  as  practical,  includ- 
ing the  principles  of  naval  architecture 
and  naval  tactics.  He  should  also  possess 
[     195     ] 


STEPHEN   HIGGINSON 

skill  sufficient  to  arrange  systematically 
the  means  of  equipping,  manning,  and  con- 
ducting the  naval  force  with  the  greatest 
possible  despatch  and  with  the  least  pos- 
sible expense;  and,  above  all,  he  should 
possess  the  inestimable  secret  of  rendering 
it  invincible  by  any  equal  force.  Thus  a 
knowledge  of  the  human  heart  will  con- 
stitute an  essential  ingredient  in  the  char- 
acter of  this  officer,  that  he  may  be  able 
to  convert  every  incident  to  the  elevation 
of  the  spirit  of  American  seamen.  Suffer 
me  to  ask  how  a  man  who  has  led  a  life 
of  indolence  for  twenty  years  can  be  ren- 
dered capable  of  these  various  exertions.'^ 
In  the  present  case,  it  is  physically  impos- 
sible. Notwithstanding  the  grateful  sen- 
sations which  are  excited  by  so  flattering 
a  testimony  of  the  national  confidence,  yet 
I  think  I  do  not  deceive  myself  in  saying 
that  I  had  rather  not  have  been  thought 
fit  for  this  office,  than  be  justly  chargeable 
with  refusing  at  this  time  any  essential 
[     196     ] 


NAVY   AGENT 

service  which  I  ought  to  perform.  Let  me 
therefore  repeat  that,  waiving  all  other 
objections,  it  is  an  insuperable  one 
that  my  powers  are  inadequate  to  the 
work/ 

Cabot  being  thus  out  of  the  question, 
the  active  work  of  the  navy  during  the 
interval  between  Cabot's  refusal  and  the 
appointment  of  a  permanent  secretary  lay 
in  the  hands  of  one  who,  far  from  leading 
a  life  of  indolence  for  twenty  years,  had 
led  a  very  busy  life,  namely,  Stephen  Hig- 
ginson.  The  interval  lasted  from  May  1 1 
to  June  22,  1798,  the  latter  being  the  date 
when  the  first  actual  Secretary  of  the  Navy 
entered  on  his  duties,  though  Stephen 
Higginson  wrote  on  June  9  to  Timothy 
Pickering :  ^  "  I  am  glad  to  learn  that  Mr. 
Stoddert  has  accepted  the  office  of  Sec'y 
of  the  Navy;    and   I   hope   he  will  soon 

*  Lodge's  Life  of  Cabot,  p.   156.    See  the  fine  tribute  to 
Cabot  by  Dr.  Channing,  in  his  address  entitled  "  The  Union." 
2  American  Historical  Association  Report,  1896,  i,  808. 

[       197      ] 


STEPHEN   HIGGINSON 

enter  upon  his  duties,  which  are  import- 
ant indeed." 

I  have  in  my  possession  copies  of  a 
hundred  or  more  letters  from  the  Secre- 
tary of  the  Navy,  Mr.  Stoddert,  to  Stephen 
Higginson,  these  being  accompanied, 
strange  to  say,  by  only  two  from  the  latter, 
who  was  yet  the  man  in  whom  the  new 
Secretary  of  the  Navy  evidently  placed  his 
entire  confidence  during  his  early  experi- 
ence. This  is  clearly  shown  by  the  whole 
tone  of  the  new  Secretary's  earlier  letters. 
He  writes,  for  instance,  in  the  very  first  of 
these  (June  22,  1798),  from  the  Navy 
Department  the  following  :  "  I  am  but  new 
to  my  office  &  shall  stand  in  need  of  all 
the  aid  I  can  obtain  from  enlightened  and 
patriotic  men  like  yourself  in  all  parts  of 
the  Union,  to  enable  me  to  discharge  with 
success  its  arduous  duties."  '  In  the  next 
letter  the  Secretary  writes  further  (June 
30, 1798):  "The  officers,  agreeably  to  the 

*  U.  S.  Navy  Department  MSS. 
[      198      ] 


NAVY   AGENT 

list  enclosed  in  your  letter  of  the  25th 
inst,  have  been  this  day  presented  to  the 
President,  who  has  nominated  to  the  Sen- 
ate the  commissioned  officers,  and  has 
appointed  the  others.  There  is  no  doubt 
all  will  be  appointed,  and  as  soon  as  they 
are  appointed,  commissions  shall  be  for- 
warded." '  Nearly  a  week  later  (July  5) 
after  inquiring  for  the  exact  situation  of 
the  frigate  Constitution,  he  writes  :  — 

"  Presuming  that  men  can  be  immedi- 
ately had  for  the  Herald,  I  will  in  two  or 
three  days  send  Capt.  Sever's  instructions 
for  a  cruise.  Our  coast,  at  least  from  New 
York  to  Cape  Henry,  has  been,  for  some 
time  past,  clear  of  French  Privateers. 
From  Cape  Henry  to  the  Southern  Ex- 
tremity will  be  sufficiently  guarded  for 
the  present.  Capt.  Sever  &  the  cutter,  I 
presume,  will  be  equal  to  the  protection 
of  the  Eastern  Coasts  and  the  fisheries, 
and  the  three  frigates,  two  of  which  are 

'  U.  S.  Navy  Department  MSS. 
[       199      ] 


STEPHEN   HIGGINSON 

out,  might  do  something  in  the  West  In- 
dies. I  wish  I  had  your  full  advice  and 
opinion  on  this  subject.  I  shall  always 
receive  with  satisfaction  your  ideas  as  to 
the  proper  employment  of  our  vessels."  ' 

Letters  like  the  following  show  how 
large  a  portion  of  the  actual  work  of 
organizing  this  new  navy  devolved  on  the 
business  agents,  and  also  shows  more  fully 
the  complete  dependence  placed  for  a  time 
on  Stephen  Higginson. 

Navy  Department, 
30th  June,  1798. 

Sir: 

The  officers  [of  a  certain  ship],  agree- 
ably to  the  list  enclosed  in  your  letter  of 
the  25th  inst.,  have  been  this  da}'  presented 
to  the  President,  who  has  nominated  to  the 
Senate  the  commissioned  officers,  and  has 
appointed  the  others.  There  is  no  doubt 
all  will  be  appointed,  and  as  soon  as  they 

'  U.  S.  Navy  Department  MSS. 
[      200      ] 


NAVY   AGENT 

are  appointed  commissions  shall  be  for- 
warded. 

With  respect  to  the  other  officers,  it  is 
not  probable  their  names  will  be  rec'd.  in 
time  enough  to  have  their  commissions 
sent  on  to  Boston  before  the  Herald  is 
ready  for  a  cruise.  In  this  case,  Capt. 
Sever,  with  your  aid,  must  fill  up  the 
different  stations  with  proper  characters. 
There  can  be  no  question  that  the  appoint- 
ments will  be  approved  of  here,  and  the 
officers  can  make  one  cruise,  as  those  of 
Capt.  Truxton's  have  done,  without  war- 
rants or  commissions.  A  list  of  the  names 
and  station  of  the  officers  must  be  for- 
warded to  me,  with  the  dates  of  their 
appointments,  that  I  may  have  them  ap- 
proved of  by  the  President  and  registered 
in  this  office. 

The  Lieutenant  of  Marines  and  Surgeon's 
Mate,  being  commissioned  officers,  they 
must  be  appointed  by  the  Senate,  if  in 
session.     Blank    commissions,    therefore, 

[      201       ] 


STEPHEN   HIGGINSON 

could  not  be  sent  on  for  them,  nor  is  it  the 
practice  to  send  them  for  warrant  officers. 

Your  idea  of  making  the  Pilot  the  sail- 
ing master  is  certainly  a  good  one,  and 
will  be  attended  to,  but  proper  pilots 
cannot  be  found  in  all  places  for  sailing 
masters.  In  Boston  such  persons  can  be 
found.  Capt.  Decatur  has  a  pilot  who  is 
the  sailing  master — his  pay  is  60  dollars 
per  month.  It  is  presumed  the  person  act- 
ing in  this  capacity  with  Capt.  Sever  will 
be  content  with  the  same  pay. 

I  shall,  in  a  few  days,  send  on  to  Capt. 
Sever  his  orders  for  a  cruise.  It  is  hoped 
he  will  be  ready. 

Copper  for  the  ships  at  Portsmouth  is 
ordered  to  be  sent  immediately. 

Stephen  Higginson,  Esq.,  Boston.' 

Navy  Department, 
5th  July,  1798. 

I  wish  I  knew  the  exact  situation  of  the 

•  U.  S.  Navy  Department  MSS. 
[       202       ] 


NAVY   AGENT 

Frigate  Constitution.  You  have  judged 
right  in  procuring  everything  for  the  ship 
building  at  Portsmouth  which  could  be 
got  with  you,  instead  of  depending  on 
Philadelphia.  This  line  of  conduct  will 
be  right  in  all  future  instances.  The 
freight,  delay,  etc.,  will  always  make  up 
for  more  than  any  difference  in  price,  even 
if  the  articles  could  be  procured  cheaper 
here,  which  is  doubted.  The  copper  has 
been  ordered  on,  and  the  ballast  shall  be 
sent  in  time.  Your  suggestions  as  to  an 
understanding  with  the  British  shall  be 
attended  to. 

Presuming  that  men  can  be  immedi- 
ately had  for  the  Herald,  I  will  in  two  or 
three  days  send  on  Capt.  Sever's  instruc- 
tions for  a  cruise.  Our  coast,  at  least  from 
New  York  to  Cape  Henry,  has  been,  for 
some  time  past,  clear  of  French  priva- 
teers. From  Cape  Henry  to  the  Southern 
Extremity  will  be  sufficiently  guarded  for 
the  present.  Capt.  Sever  &  the  cutter,  I 
[     203    ] 


STEPHEN   HIGGINSON 

presume,  will  be  equal  to  the  protection  of 
the  Eastern  Coasts  and  the  fisheries,  and 
the  three  frigates,  two  of  which  are  out, 
might  do  something  in  the  West  Indies.  I 
wish  I  had  your  full  advice  and  opinion 
on  this  subject.  I  shall  always  receive 
with  satisfaction  your  ideas  as  to  the  proper 
employment  of  our  vessels.  The  force  we 
shall  be  able  to  command  in  one  month 
will  be  as  follows:  — 

Frigate  U.  States 48  guns. 

Constellation 38     " 

Constitution 44     " 

Two  ships  from  Baltimore,  20  guns  each. 
Two  from  this  port,  now  out,  the  same 

force. 
Two  or  three  cutters. 
The  Herald. 

Your  letter  does  not  state  the  sum  wanted 
for  fitting  out  the  Herald.  Expecting  to 
hear  shortly  from  you  on  this  subject,  I 
have  requested  the  Secretary  of  the  Trea- 
sury to  remit  you  by  this  day's  mail  8000 
[    204    ] 


NAVY   AGENT 

dollars  on  that  account,  and  a  further  sum 
of  4000  dollars,  to  be  paid  over  by  you  to 
Capt.  Sever,  for  the  purpose  of  recruiting 
the  men.  If  there  was  a  purser  appointed  he 
would  be  the  proper  person  to  receive  and 
distribute  it  to  the  recruiting  officers,  under 
the  direction  of  the  Captain.  Be  so  good 
as  to  have  a  proper  person  fixed  on  for  this 
office,  and  let  him  act  as  if  he  had  received 
his  appointment,  sending  his  name  to  me, 
and  if  more  money  be  necessary,  be  pleased 
to  have  it  furnished. 

Stephen  Higginson,  Esq.* 

This  illustrates  the  need  of  counsel  felt 
by  the  newly  appointed  head  of  the  Navy 
Department:  — 

Navy  Department, 
July  12,  1798. 
Sir:  I  have  this  day  sent  on  orders  to 
Captain  Nicholson  &  Capt.  Sever  to  pro- 
ceed to  sea. 

*  U.  S.  Navy  Department  MSS. 
[      205      ] 


STEPHEN   HIGGINSON 

The  cutter  at  Newbury  is  to  be  under 
my  direction  when  equipped  for  sea.  I  en- 
close orders  for  the  Captain,  which  I  pre- 
sume the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  has 
ordered  him  to  obe3\  I  can  say  to  you, 
in  confidence,  that  Barry,  in  the  Frigate 
United  States,  48  guns,  that  Decatur,  in 
the  Delaware,  a  strong  ship  of  22  guns, 
have  orders  to  proceed  immediately  from 
the  Capes  of  Delaware  and  to  fall  in  with 
Capt.  Sever  and  the  cutter  at  Cape  Cod, 
or,  not  finding  them  there,  to  Nantasket 
Roads;  from  whence  the  four  vessels  are 
to  proceed,  under  the  command  of  Barry, 
to  the  West  Indies,  to  fall  in  with  the 
Islands,  3  or  4  degrees  to  the  windward 
of  Barbadoes,  and  thence  keeping  to  the 
windward  of  Martinico,  Antigua,  etc.,  to 
Porto  Rico,  from  whence,  after  a  short 
cruise,  and  attempting  to  get  our  seamen 
from  that  Island,  where  it  is  said  there  are 
a  great  many,  they  are  to  return.  Captain 
Nicholson  meantime  is  to  protect  the 
[     206     ] 


NAVY   AGENT 

Eastern  Coast  —  his  cruising  ground  from 
about  fifteen  leagues  East  of  the  east  end 
of  George's  Island  to  the  west  of  Long 
Island. 

I  wish  you  would  give  me  your  candid 
opinion  of  this  arrangement,  and  add  such 
observations  as  shall  direct  me  better  in 
future.  It  was  unfortunate  that,  in  confer- 
ring the  appointment  of  the  Secretary  of 
the  Navy  upon  me,  the  President  could 
not  also  confer  the  knowledge  necessary 
for  the  Secretary  of  the  Navy  to  possess 
to  make  him  most  useful  to  his  country.' 

At  this  point  in  the  correspondence 
come  the  two  letters  from  Stephen  Hig- 
ginson,  himself,  preserved  out  of  all  this 
correspondence.  How  the  disappearance 
of  all  these  other  letters  occurred  will 
probably  never  be  known.  It  has  aready 
been  mentioned  that  Stephen  Higginson 
burnt  much   of   his  correspondence,  like 

'  U.  S.  Navy  Department  MSS. 
[      207      ] 


STEPHEN   HIGGINSON 

many  Federalists,  after  the  party  went  hope- 
lessly out  of  power.  But  inasmuch  as  these 
letters  of  his  own  must  have  been  in  the 
custody  of  the  Navy  Department,  it  is  im- 
possible to  tell  how  they  were  recalled 
and  what  became  of  them.  For  this  rea- 
son both  letters  are  given  as  follows: 
these  being  in  all  probability  only  the  re- 
presentative of  a  hundred  or  so  which  have 
disappeared. 

Boston,  July  25,  '98. 
Sir: 

Capt.  Sever  this  moment  mentions  that 
you  had  intimated  to  him  that  you  could 
nowhere  find  the  force  of  the  Herald 
stated.  This  I  wonder  at,  as  I  had  men- 
tioned in  more  than  one  letter  that  she  was 
to  carry  16  six  pounders  and  six  four- 
pounders  on  quarter  decks  and  forecastle, 
and  Capt  Sever  has  arranged  to  take  54 
able  seamen,  26  ordinary,  sergeant,  cor- 
poral, two  musicians  and  14  marines, 
which,  with  the  commissioned  and  war- 
[     ^08     ] 


NAVY   AGENT 

rant  officers,  will  make  128  in  all.  I  seize 
the  moment  of  the  post  going  off  to  state 
this  to  you  &  remain 

Respectfully,  your  hum.  sevt. 

Stephen  Higginson.' 

Here  follows  naturally  the  only  other 
letter  from  Stephen  Higginson  on  this 
point  which  has  come  to  light  at  Washing- 
ton, and  I  give  it  in  full  to  convey  his  idea 
of  the  duties  of  his  position  and  also  his 
fearless  and  independent  judgment  of  his 
subordinates  :  — 

Boston,  August  23,  1798. 
Benj.  Stoddert,  Esq. 
Sir: 

I  remain  without  any  letters  from  you 
since  my  last.  Yesterday  the  Herald  and 
Pickering  sailed  on  their  cruise,  after 
waiting  several  days  for  a  wind,  with  sev- 
eral other  vessels.    Capt.  Sever  has  left 

*  U.  S.  Navy  Department  MSS. 
[      209      ] 


STEPHEN   HIGGINSON 

with  me  the  pay  roll,  muster  roll,  watch 
list  and  quarter  bill,  and  a  number  of  per- 
sons' oaths,  &c.,  which  I  shall  forward  to 
you,  if  they  are  to  be  in  your  office,  as 
I  suppose. 

I  mentioned  in  my  last  Capt.  Sever  not 
having  all  his  marines,  and  sent  you  a 
copy  of  my  note  to  him  to  remove  his 
doubts  about  going  to  sea  without  them, 
which  had  its  effect.  Sever  will  be  an 
excellent  naval  commander  ;  he  is  a  cool, 
firm,  discreet,  gentlemanlike  man,  who 
feels  and  conducts  with  dignity  &  zeal 
proper  to  his  station;  he  is  remarkable 
for  discipline  and  regularity;  his  principle 
defect,  if  it  may  be  called  one,  is  a  great 
attention  to  method  &  order ;  and  his 
first  Lt.  is  a  fine  fellow,  possessing  every 
qualit}'  requisite  to  excel  in  the  naval  line. 
You  may  be  assured  that  ship  is  well 
appointed,  &  will  not  be  given  away  to 
any  vessel  near  her  force. 

The  Cutter  is  also  well  appointed,  with 

[      210      ] 


NAVY  AGENT 

good  officers  &  a  good  crew.  Capt.  Chap- 
man is  not  inferior  to  any  man  in  the  Navy; 
many  think  him  to  excel,  &  his  officers 
are  very  good. 

As  Capt.  Sever  appointed  &  attended 
upon  the  frigate  at  Portsmouth  till  she  was 
suspended,  he  expects  again  to  be  called 
to  attend  upon  her,  no  doubt,  &  at  his  re- 
turn from  this  cruise  will  be  ready  to  do 
it;  &  Capt.  Chapman  will  be  the  man 
most  agreeable  to  the  subscribers  &  the 
committee  for  building  the  ship  in  this 
town,  &  would  himself  like  to  have  her. 

I  will  suggest  to  you  an  arrangement 
which  I  think  will  be  very  agreeable  to 
the  people  of  influence  &  discernment  here, 
&  will  be  promotive  of  the  public  interest. 
If  Capts.  Sever  &  Chapman  shall  be  ap- 
pointed to  the  ships  mentioned,  they  will 
prefer  leaving  their  present  commands  & 
attending  to  the  building  their  new  ships, 
as  they  will  wish  to  oversee  and  direct  in 
many  matters  of  interior  construction,  to 
[     211     ] 


STEPHEN   HIGGINSON 

conform  to  their  own  taste.  Mr.  Hutch- 
ins,  now  first  Lt.  of  the  Herald^  can 
take  the  Herald,  which  he  merits  fully, 
and  Mr.  Hillar  first  Lt.  of  the  Pickering, 
can  be  rewarded  by  the  command  of  her. 
These  two  men  are  very  efficient  &  have 
great  talents  for  the  Navy.  Hutchins  is 
an  uncommon  man  and  both  are  capable 
of  greater  energies  than  common  men,  and 
both  have  great  spirit  and  ambition,  tem- 
pered with  discretion.  This  will  leave  the 
ship  building  by  Col.  Hacket,  at  Ports- 
mouth, for  Daniel  McNeil,  who,  I  find, 
has  his  eye  upon  and  wishes  to  be  ap- 
pointed to  her.  I  take  the  liberty  of  sug- 
gesting this  arrangement  as  one  which 
will  meet  the  desires  of  the  officers,  the 
public  opinion  &  the  good  of  the  service  ; 
and  if  it  does  not  interfere  with  any  other 
which  you  may  have  in  view,  I  think  I 
might  venture  to  be  responsible  for  the 
result.  The  only  part  that  I  have  any 
doubt  is  that  of  McNeils,  but  as   he  is 

[       ^12       ] 


NAVY   AGENT 

to  be  provided  for  and  has  a  commission, 
he  had  better  have  that  ship  than  one 
here. 

I  thought  the  20,000  dollars  remitted 
last  would  have  been  sufficient  for  all  de- 
mands this  month,  but  I  find  the  Herald's 
bills  amount  to  more  than  I  expected,  and 
more  is  called  for  from  Portsmouth,  so  that 
another  20,000  dollars  will  be  wanted.  The 
accounts  for  the  Herald  will  be  all  in  and 
ready  next  week  to  forward  to  you.  Will 
you  have  all  the  original  bills  sent  on; 
duplicates  have  been  taken  of  most  &  may 
be  forwarded  if  you  wish  them. 

I  am  with  respect  your  hum.  sevt., 

Stephen  Higginson.' 

The  following  is  also  interesting  as  show- 
ing the  view  then  held  as  to  the  ultimate 
needs  of  the  Navy,  and  how  candidly  the 
new  secretary  sought  counsel  of  one  who 
was  technically  an  agent  only  :  — 

'  U.  S.  Navy  Department  MSS. 
[      213      ] 


STEPHEN   HIGGINSON 

Navy  Department, 
loth  April,  1799. 

Sir: 

It  is  not  positively  determined  at  what 
places  the  six  74  gun  ships  are  to  be  built. 
Steps  have  been  taken  to  get  from  Georgia 
the  frames  of  live  oak,  but  a  very  great 
quantity  of  other  timber  will  be  wanted 
and  must  be  obtained  very  quickly.  Moulds 
are  preparing  and  by  the  time  they  are 
ready  to  be  sent  from  hence,  I  want  to  fix 
on  the  places  to  which  they  are  to  be 
sent. 

I  am  inclined  to  believe  that  we  must 
ultimately  build  our  public  ships  at  not 
more  than  three  different  places —  one  in 
New  Hampshire  or  Massachusetts,  one  on 
North  River,  and  one  on  Chesapeake  Bay, 
but  I  am  rather  disposed  to  build  the  pre- 
sent six  ships  in  as  many  different  places, 
but  to  make  collections  of  timber,  beyond 
what  will  be  necessary  for  the  ships,  only 
at  three  places;  one  on  Chesapeake,  one 
[     214    ] 


Copyright,  1896,  by  A.  W.  Elson  &  Co. 

THE   FRIGATE   CONSTITUTION 


t 


NAVY   AGENT 

on  North  River,  and  one  to  the  Eastward. 
Will  you  be  so  good  as  to  favor  me  with 
your  opinion  on  this  subject,  and  also  with 
your  opinion  of  the  places  where  two  of 
the  present  six  ships  ought  to  set  up  east 
of  New  York.  One  will  probably  be  com- 
menced at  New  York,  one  on  Delaware. 
But  if  it  should  be  found  impracticable  to 
build  one  on  Delaware,  for  want  of  suffi- 
cient depth  of  water,  a  point  at  this  mo- 
ment doubtful.  In  that  case,  three  will  be 
set  up  Eastward  of  New  York. 
Stephen  Higginson,  Esq.' 

Such  letters  as  those  of  Stoddert  could 
easily  be  multiplied,  but  a  hundred  of 
them  would  only  establish  more  thoroughly 
the  fact  that  he,  the  first  actual  Secretary 
of  the  Navy,  was  a  trustworthy  and  la- 
borious man;  and  also  the  other  fact  that 
Stephen  Higginson  was  both  the  coadjutor 
and  the  guiding  adviser  in  all  this  work, 

'  U.  S.  Navy  Department  MSS. 
[      215      ] 


STEPHEN   HIGGINSON 

in  which  consisted  the  actual  creation  of 
the  American  Navy,  and  of  which  the 
frigate  Constitution  now  remains  the  sole 
memorial. 


XIII 

THE    FEASTS    OF    SHELLS 

(1802-3-4) 

"  There  take  (says  Justice),  take  ye  each  a  shell  I  "  —  Pope, 
from  Boileau  (Epttre  ii). 


THE    FEASTS    OF   SHELLS 

THERE  are  few  things  which  throw 
a  light  more  curious  and  unex- 
pected on  the  habits  of  our  New 
England  ancestors  than  the  annual  cele- 
bration, under  the  above  name,  both  in  Ply- 
mouth and  in  Boston,  of  that  which  was 
also  called,  more  reverentially.  Forefathers 
Day.  It  was  apparently  in  the  year  1769 
that  the  Old  Colony  Club  began  to  cele- 
brate this  event  by  a  public  dinner,  at 
which  they  made  a  great  point  of  serving 
shell-fish,  succotash,  and  the  like.  The 
following  description  of  one  of  these  early 
feasts  in  Plymouth  is  taken  from  the  ac- 
count of  the  celebration  as  given  in  the 
"  Boston  Gazette,"  January  22,  1770:  — 

"At  eleven    of   the  clock,    a.  m.,    the 
members  of  the  club  met  met  [szc^  at  the 
hall,  and  from  thence  proceeded  to  the 
[     219    ] 


STEPHEN   HIGGINSON 

house  of  Mr.  Rowland,  which  is  erected 
upon  the  spot  where  the  first  licenced 
house  in  the  Old  Colony  formerly  stood: 
At  half  after  Two,  a  decent  repast  was 
served  up,  consisting  of  a  large  baked 
Whortle-berry  Pudding,  Sauqetash,  Cod- 
fish, Clams,  Oysters,  a  Haunch  ofVennison, 
(roasted  by  the  first  jack  brought  to  the 
Colony,)  Sea-Fowl,  Frost:  Fish  and  Eels, 
dress'd  in  the  plainest  manner;  all  appear- 
ance of  luxury  and  extravagance  being 
avoided,  in  imitation  of  their  worthy  an- 
cestors, at  four  o'clock  p.  m.  the  members 
of  the  Club  headed  by  the  steward,  carry- 
ing a  folio  volume  of  the  laws  of  the  old 
Colony,  hand  in  hand  walk'd  in  procession 
to  the  Hall :  Upon  the  appearance  of  the 
members  in  the  front  of  the  Hall  a  num- 
ber of  the  descendants  from  the  first  set- 
tlers of  the  old  Colony,  drew  up  in  a  regu- 
lar file  and  discharged  a  volley  of  small 
arms,  succeeded  by  three  cheers,  which 
were  returned  by  the  Club;  after  this  at 

[       220      ] 


THE   FEASTS   OF   SHELLS 

the  private  Grammar  School  opposite  the 
hall,  a  number  of  young  gentlemen  [as- 
sembled] to  express  their  joy  upon  the 
occasion,  and  their  respect  for  the  memory 
of  their  ancestors,  in  the  most  agreeable 
manner  join'd  in  singing  a  song  very  suit- 
able for  the  day.  At  sun  sett  a  Cannon 
wos  [5eV]  fired  and  the  Flag  struck;  in  the 
evening  the  Hall  was  illuminated  and  a 
number  of  the  principal  Gentlemen  of  the 
Town  being  previously  invited  joined  the 
Club  and  the  President  (being  seated  in 
a  large  and  venerable  Chair  formerly  pos- 
sessed by  William  Bradford  the  sec- 
ond worthy  Governor  of  the  Old  Colony 
and  presented  to  the  Club  by  Dr.  LeBarron 
of  that  Town)  delivered  the  following 
toasts,  and  a  number  of  others,  which  were 
drank  by  the  Company. 

"  After  spending  the  Evening  in  an 
agreeable  manner  in  recapitulating,  and 
conversing  upon   the    many  and  various 

[       221       ] 


STEPHEN   HIGGINSON 

adventures  of  their  forefathers  in  the  first 
settlement  of  this  Country,  and  the  growth 
and  increase  of  the  same,  at  Eleven  o'Clock 
in  the  Evening  a  Cannon  was  again  fired, 
three  cheers  given,  and  the  Company 
withdrew." 

These  Plymouth  celebrations  continued 
apparently  up  to  the  year  1 78 1 .  During  the 
first  ten  years  of  this  period  there  were  also 
religious  exercises,  though  none  earlier. 
From  1 781  to  1792,  there  was  apparently 
no  celebration  at  Plymouth,  since  which 
such  exercises  have  always  been  held. 
In  Boston,  they  were  imitated,  for  the  first 
time,  in  1797  or  1798  and  were  thence  fol- 
lowed for  many  years.  In  1801,  1802,  and 
1803  Stephen  Higginson  presided  at  the 
Boston  festivals,  his  vice-presidents  being 
on  the  first  occasion  Joseph  Russell,  Peleg 
Coffin,  and  Martin  Brimmer.  It  appears 
from  the  "Columbian  Centinel,"  Decem- 
ber 25,  1802,  that  the  hall  was  appropriately 
ornamented  with  the  portraits  of  Win- 
[     222    ] 


THE   FEASTS   OF   SHELLS 

throp,  Endicott,  Leverett,  Higginson, 
Bradstreet,  and  Wilson,  together  with  an 
historical  painting  "  the  Landing  of  the 
Fathers  "  from  the  pencil  of  Mr.  Sargent 
and  many  curiosities  connected  with  the 
manners  and  persons  of  the  time.  It  ap- 
pears that  there  were  seventeen  regular 
toasts  and  fourteen  volunteer  ones,  one 
being  to  the  President  of  the  Day  [Stephen 
Higginson]  after  he  had  retired  from  the 
chair,  "  May  the  Jacobins  find  many  Fed- 
eralists whom  they  dread  as  much  and 
who  will  dread  them  as  little." 

From  the  fact  that  many  toasts  followed 
this,  we  may  assume  that  in  colonial  feasts, 
as  in  modern  ones,  the  entertainment  grew 
somewhat  more  convivial  in  later  hours, 
and  a  younger  chairman  succeeded.  It 
was,  ho^A;  ever,  at  the  very  end  of  the  feast, 
it  would  seem,  that  Judge  Paine  volun- 
teered this  rousing  sentiment,  "  Great  Brit- 
ain, May  that  Nation  which  stood  the 
Friend  of  Liberty  when  Liberty  had  no 
[     223     ] 


STEPHEN   HIGGINSON 

other  Friend  among  the  Nations  be  refined 
and  conformed  and  remain  theyi^;^^//^' while 
the  United  States  of  America  stands  the 
JBoaz  of  true  Political  and  Social  Liberty, 
until  Sun  and  Moon  shall  set  no  more." 

A  festive  occasion  is  imperfectly  seen, 
however,  so  long  as  we  view  it  only 
through  the  eyes  of  its  supporters.  Let  us 
now  turn  to  the  Feast  of  Shells  as  de- 
scribed by  the  Democratic  press  of  Bos- 
ton. 

Thus  in  1802  the  "Independent  Chron- 
icle "for  December  30  expresses  indignation 
at  the  speeches  made  at  the  "  Feast  of 
Shells  "  entertainment,  and  still  more  that 
one  of  them  should  have  been  introduced 
by  the  tune  which  was  then,  doubtless, 
in  fashion,  "  Go  to  the  devil  and  shake 
yourself."  The  editor  follows  it  up  with 
these  words,  "  This  is  a  pretty  ditty  for 
the  Sons  of  our  pious  Forefathers  — what 
an    appearance    must   Gen.    Lincoln   and 

'  2  Chronicles,  iii,  17. 
[      224      ] 


THE   FEASTS   OF   SHELLS 

Judge  Paine  make  in  company  with  Ste- 
phen Higginson,  Fisher  Ames,  Timothy 
Pickering,  Dr.  Parker,  the  Rev.  Mr.  John 
Gardiner,  etc.  etc.  while  attentively  lis- 
tening to  the  music  of  ^  Go  to  the  devil 
and  shake  yourself.'  This  is  piety  with  a 
vengeance." 

On  the  recurrence  of  these  alleged  orgies 
in  1803,  the  "Independent  Chronicle"  is 
yet  more  wrathful  (December  26,  1803), 
under  the  following  head:  — 

FEAST   OF   SHELLS  — OR,  BOSTON 
SEDITION 

IT  has  become  fashionable  of  late,  for 
a  few  of  the  rich  and  well-born  gentry  to 
celebrate  what  they  call  "  the  anniversary 
of  the  landing  of  Our  Forefathers, 
at  Cape  Cod  or  Plymouth.''^  Who  are 
they  that  gather  themselves  together  on 
this  new-fangled,  glorious  day,  to  eat  & 
drink  in  honor  of  their  ancestors^  and 
call  it  a  Feast  of  Shells  ?  and  what  the 
[     225     ] 


STEPHEN   HIGGINSON 

peculiar  shining  virtues  of  the  celebrators 
and  celebrated  ? 

How  striking  a  similarity  is  there  be- 
tween the  feast  at  Vila's,  and  the  scanty 
meal  of  clams,  and  fish,  and  brook  water, 
with  which  the  poor  houseless,  expatri- 
ated, discontented  wanderers,  were  obliged 
to  satisfy  their  unpampered  appetites  ! 
The  virtues  of  those  adventurers,  who 
first  landed  in  this  part  of  the  American 
empire,  ought  to  be  praised  (if  by  their 
descendants  they  are  praised  at  all)  with 
great  modesty.  It  is  enough  to  say  of 
them  that,  in  their  native  country,  they 
possessed,  or  thought  they  possessed,  mer- 
its for  which  they  were  not  sufficiently 
respected  or  rewarded  —  the  genius  of 
their  then  country  was  intolerant;  and 
they  flew  from  persecution,  in  order  to 
spread  the  seed  of  persecution  in  an  unin- 
habited wilderness. 

Is  this  22d  of  December,  in  the  man- 
ner it  is  managed,  a  valuable  institution  ? 
[     226    ] 


THE   FEASTS   OF   SHELLS 

Will  the  nobility  and  gentry  about  St. 
James's,  observe  it  with  admiration,  or 
derision  ?  Is  it  a  respectable  anniversary? 
look  at  the  toasts,  and  they  will  answer. 
Have  the  celebrators,  one  spark  of  the 
modest  simplicity,  the  unassuming  piety, 
the  disinterested  devotion  to  God  and  the 
Commonweal,  which  warmed  the  breasts 
of  our  ancestors  ?  Are  the  celebrators 
poor,  disinterested  and  pious  ?  Do  they 
share  all  things  in  common  ?  Are  they 
exclusively  (and  who  of  them)  the  de- 
scendants of  our  ancestors  ?  Are  not 
most  of  the  celebrators  bloated  and  over- 
abounding  with  such  sort  of  piety  as 
filled  the  breast  of  Archbishop  Laud  ? 
Have  not  many  of  them  been  perse- 
cutors ?  Have  they  not  had  their  share 
of  power  and  good  fat  offices  ? 

In  the   third   year   (on  December  27, 
1804)  the  "Independent  Chronicle"  re- 
curs once  more  to  the  subject  of  "The 
[     227     ] 


STEPHEN   HIGGINSON 

parade  that  is  made  previously  to  this 
mock  sensation  "  (J.  e.  of  the  Pilgrim  din- 
ner), and  describes  an  imaginary  man 
falling  asleep,  who  fancies  himself  to  be 
watching  a  celebration  where  "  a  great 
number  of  well-fed,  well-dressed  Pil- 
grims, who  had  never  endured  penance 
beyond  a  drunken  headache,  were  walk- 
ing about  with  some  impatience,  looking 
at  their  gold  watches  and  demanding  the 
dinner  forthwith."  The  writer  then  goes 
on  to  describe  an  imaginary  picture  in 
which  occurs  the  only  reference  to  the 
presiding  officer,  thus:  "I  observed  that 
the  company  attempted  to  eat  their  soup 
at  first  with  cockle-shells  a  la  Pele- 
rin,  but  his  honor  the  moderator  having 
spilled  some  fat  broth  on  a  new  pair  of 
black  satin  breeches,  he  called  for  spoons 
and  the  antique  fashion  was  abandoned." 
A  correspondent  adds  the  expression  of  in- 
dignant regret  that  "  sacred  priests  should 
mingle  in  the  laugh  of  revenge,  the  toast 
[     228     ] 


■ 


THE   FEASTS   OF   SHELLS 

of  slander  and  the  song  of  personal  con- 
tempt on  a  Saturday  evening  and  bend 
with  confidence  over  the  board  of  devo- 
tion on  the  day  following." 

No  allusions  to  these  festive  occasions 
are  apparently  to  be  found  in  Stephen 
Higginson's  correspondence.  I  find  in 
"An  Appeal  to  the  Public,"  by  Jedediah 
Morse,  D.D.  (Charlestown,  1814),  he 
states  in  regard  to  his  "  History  of  New 
England,"  "  The  proposal  of  making  it  a 
school  book,  to  aid  the  design  of  the 
feast  of  shells^  was  by  me  mentioned  to 
a  number  of  the  principal  promoters  of 
that  festival,  among  others  to  Mr.  S.  H. 
Jun.  [Higginson]  and  was  by  them  ap- 
proved." ' 

'  Morse's  Appeal  to  the  Public,  p.  67.    It  was  through  this 
reference  that  I  first  heard  of  the  Feast  itself. 


XIV 

A    GREEN    OLD   AGE 

"  A  green  old  age  unconscious  of  decay."  —  Pope's  Homer's 
Iliad,  XXIII,  989. 


A   GREEN    OLD    AGE 

STEPHEN  HiGGiNSON  was  made  a  jus- 
tice of  the  peace  in  Massachusetts  in 
1782  and  of  the  Quorum  in  1788.  He 
was  at  one  time  displaced  by  Governor 
Hancock  and  then  reappointed  by  Gover- 
nor Bowdoin,  the  Laco  Letters  having  very 
probably  had  something  to  do  with  these 
changes.  In  1784,  February  7,  a  bank  was 
established  in  Massachusetts  of  which  Gov- 
ernor Bowdoin  was  president  and  George 
Cabot,  Jonathan  Mason,  John  Lowell,  Ste- 
phen Higginson  and  others  were  directors. 
The  latter  sustained  some  loss  of  property 
in  1 78 1,  and  at  that  time  became  separated 
in  partnership  from  Jonathan  Jackson,  who 
removed  to  Newburyport,  but  Higginson 
continued  until  about  181 2  a  successful 
merchant.  His  only  brother  Henry  died 
unmarried  about  that  time,  leaving  him  a 
[     233    ] 


STEPHEN   HIGGINSON 

property  of  five  or  six  thousand  dollars. 
At  his  most  prosperous  time  Stephen  Hig- 
ginson  is  described  as  having  been  worth 
about  half  a  million  dollars,  but  when  he 
left  business  he  had  only  about  a  hundred 
and  thirty  thousand.  The  standard  of 
wealth,  we  must  remember,  was  incom- 
parably lower  in  those  da37s  than  at  the 
present  time.  There  lies  before  me  the 
list  of  subscribers  for  the  first  Catholic 
church  in  Boston,  that  established  by 
Father  Cheverus  in  1803,  in  which  the  list 
is  headed  by  John  Adams,  the  Perkins 
brothers,  Stephen  Higginson,  and  Stephen 
Higginson,  Jr.,  each  of  these  contributing 
one  hundred  dollars,  followed  by  five 
other  subscribers  to  the  same  amount,  all 
other  subscriptions  reaching  only  lower 
sums.  Several  visits  to  England  had  made 
him  more  cautious  in  commercial  matters 
than  was  my  father,  who  kept  up  his  risky 
enterprises  until  he  failed  altogether  and 
had  to  retire  from  business.  My  grand- 
[     234     ] 


A  GREEN   OLD  AGE 

father  was  still  classed  among  the  rich 
men  of  Boston  and  built  what  was  then 
a  large  country  seat  in  Brookline,  upon 
ground  now  occupied  by  his  kinsmen  of 
the  Lowell  family  j  and  his  life  there  was 
too  picturesque  and  old-fashioned  not  to 
be  given  in  a  separate  chapter,  as  por- 
trayed by  my  cousin  the  late  William 
Henry  Channing. 

The  following  letter  is  from  Stephen 
Higginson,  who  had  declined  reelection 
to  Congress,  to  Arthur  Lee,  who  was  still 
there,  in  reference  to  the  retirement  of 
Alexander  Hamilton, "  the  General,"  from 
that  branch  of  the  public  service.  It  will 
be  remembered  that  one  of  Hamilton's 
favorite  measures  had  been  to  obtain  con- 
sent to  the  grant  of  five  per  cent  impost 
on  imports.  This  was  defeated,  largely 
through  the  opposition  of  Rhode  Island ; 
and  Lodge,  in  his  biography  of  Hamilton 
(p.  40),  says:  "Defeated  at  this  point, 
Congress  fell  back  on  its  old  policy  of 
[     235     ] 


STEPHEN   HIGGINSON 

recommending  a  grant  for  a  term  of  years; 
and  against  this  Hamilton  and  Higgin- 
son  voted  with  the  Rhode  Islanders,  who 
opposed  all  forms  of  taxation  or  debt- 
paying."  It  would  seem  from  this  let- 
ter, however,  that  Stephen  Higginson 
was  by  no  means  an  ally  of  Hamilton 
in  what  the  latter  called  "  continental  pol- 
itics "  ;  — 

Boston,  Jan'y  27,  1784. 
D^  Sir,  — Yours  from  Annapolis  I  rec^ 
—  the  Account  you  give  of  the  General's 
[Hamilton's]  resignation  agrees  well  with 
what  the  Papers  relate  —  it  was  no  doubt 
affecting  to  you  who  were  present  &  the 
manner  in  which  he  did  it  may  serve  to 
increase  his  popularity,  for  the  great  mass 
of  the  People  are  governed  wholly  by  ap- 
pearances, but  he  would  in  my  Opinion 
have  rendered  his  Character  much  more 
perfect  had  he  have  given  us  in  his  Vale- 
dictory strong  evidence  that  he  still  re- 
[     236     ] 


A  GREEN   OLD   AGE 

tained  his  republican  Ideas  &  principles, 
that  he  yet  should  be  anxiously  careful  to 
preserve  unimpaired  the  Constitut.  and 
could  never  be  induced  by  foreign  or  do- 
mestic Influence  to  aid  those  measures 
that  have  the  most  remote  tendency  to 
subvert  that  Government  which  he  once 
affected  to  revere  &  for  the  support  of 
which  he  has  repeatedly  declared  he  was 
ready  to  hazard  his  All  —  I  confess  that  it 
is  to  me  mysterious  how  a  man  who  has 
any  knowledge  of  Our  national  affairs  &  is 
in  any  degree  acquainted  with  the  Charac- 
ters of  those  in  the  great  Departments  & 
of  Congress,  can  be  highly  in  favour  of  the 

5  pr.  ct.  Impost  and  for  increasing  the 
Powers  of  Congress,  &  at  the  same  time 
heartily  attached  to  Our  present  Constitu- 
tion—  Can  any  man  take  a  View  of  the 
Doings  of  Congress  for  the  last  three  years 

6  believe  that  an  increase  of  their  Power 
would  conduce  to  the  public  Happiness  or 
tend  to  preserve  our  present  form  of  Gov- 

[     237     ] 


STEPHEN   HIGGINSON 

ernment  ?  Does  not  the  present  Congress 
in  a  great  degree  consist  of  the  same  men 
whose  public  Conduct  will  surely  be  ever 
memorable,  does  not  the  same  Junto,  the 
same  Influence  still  guide  the  measures  of 
Congress  that  laid  the  most  important  In- 
terests, nay  the  very  Independence,  of  this 
Country  at  the  feet  of  the  french  ministryr 
&  while  this  is  the  Case  must  not  an  in- 
crease of  their  power  in  the  same  degree 
increase  the  danger  of  Our  being  yet 
brought  into  Bondage  r  surely  it  must  — 
Who  will  believe  that  an  Impost  which 
from  its  very  nature  will  give  room  for 
ambitious  &  designing  ministers  to  mis- 
apply it,  nay  to  employ  it  to  seduce  even 
Congress  itself  or  some  of  its  members, 
when  he  knows  that  specific  Taxes  granted 
in  such  manner  &  under  such  Checks  as 
rendered  it  easy  to  discover  the  least  mis- 
applications, when  he  knows  that  the  mon- 
ies collected  on  such  Taxes  have  been  in 
violation  of  every  principle  of  policy  & 
[     238     ] 


A   GREEN   OLD  AGE 

Justice  by  the  very  men  now  in  Office  ap- 
plied to  such  purposes" — for  my  own 
part  I  can  not  believe  that  those  who  will 
hazard  a  misappropriation  when  detection 
is  highly  probable  if  not  certain  will  hesi- 
tate doing  it  when  they  have  the  means  in 
their  own  hands  of  hiding  it  from  the  pub- 
lic Eye,  &  surely  those  who  have  the  dis- 
posal of  an  unknown  sum  may  be  said  to 
have  such  means  — 

But  I  can  not  suspect  the  Generals  Love 
of  Liberty  and  attachment  to  his  Country, 
I  rather  suppose  that  he  has  had  not  all 
that  information  which  is  necessary  to 
form  a  right  Judgment  —  his  situation 
seemed  favorable  for  acquiring  a  thorough 
knowledge  of  Our  political  Affairs,  but  I 
believe  that  the  Junto,  who  always  had 
their  setters  around  him,  took  great  pains 
to  keep  him  ignorant  of  their  measures 
and  wholly  in  the  dark  as  to  their  Views 
—  sensible  of  his  Virtues  they  concealed 
from  him  their  Intentions,  lest  his  influ- 
[     239     ] 


STEPHEN   HIGGINSON 

ence,  which  has  always  been  great,  should 
be  opposed  to  them. 

Mr.  F — r  may  talk  of  resigning  but  de- 
pend upon  it  he  will  not  do  it  till  he  appre- 
hends danger  of  being  displaced  or  is 
thoroughly  satisfied  that  he  can  no  longer 
govern  —  I  wish  he  would  resign,  it  will 
not  be  an  easy  matter  for  him  again  to 
assume  the  Reins,  there  is  a  very  wide 
difference  between  retaining  an  Office  in 
possession  and  obtaining  one  that  is  vacant 
—  a  consciousness  of  that  difference  has 
emboldened  many  of  the  public  Servants 
to  follow  their  own  inclination,  and  to  treat 
even  Congress  with  Contempt — secure  of 
a  Junto  in  Congress  they  were  sure  of 
their  places,  and  having  a  few  venial  Ones 
at  their  Command,  they  have  bid  defiance 
to  the  Body  —  it  is  high  time  that  your  Ser- 
vants were  annually  elected,  from  the  high- 
est to  the  lowest  they  have  become  insolent, 
let  this  reformation  take  place  &  I  will  an- 
swer for  their  behaving  better  in  future  — 
[     240     ] 


A   GREEN   OLD   AGE 

Why  will  not  your  state  Rhode  Island, 
Jersey  &  No.  Carolina  give  their  Dele- 
gates similar  Instructions  to  Congr  if 
three  or  four  States  would  agree  &  urge  a 
reformation  in  the  same  points  they  would 
not  fail  of  success  —  Copies  of  Our  memo- 
rial &c  should  be  sent  to  those  states  — 

What  think  you  of  the  Cincinnati,  what 
says  Congress  to  it,  how  does  your  state 
relish  itr  is  it  an  Exotic  and  a  part  of  the 
great  System  or  notr  a  serious  opposition 
is  forming  to  it  here  &  such  as  will  soon 
check  if  not  destroy  the  influence  of  the 
Institution  in  this  State.  .  .  . 

The  following  letter,  found  among  Ste- 
phen Higginson's  papers,  shows  how  he 
and  his  partner  were  tormented,  thus  early, 
by  the  question  of  slavery :  — 

New  York  Novr.  4th  1787- 
Gentlemen,  —  On  or  about  the  8th  of 
September  last  my  Negro  Wench  named 
Beth  left  me  and  stole  and  carried  off  with 
[     241     ] 


STEPHEN   HIGGINSON 

her  a  Part  of  my  Property  —  My  Neigh- 
bor Mr.  Daniel  Ludlow  who  lately  re- 
turned from  Boston  informs  Me  She  is 
now  in  your  City  and  has  hired  herself 
out  (with  her  Husband  a  servant  of  Mr. 
Charles  McEvers)  to  a  Person  in  Han- 
over Street,  near  to  a  Mr.  Coffin  Jones 
upon  my  Application  to  Govr.  Clinton  he 
has  favoured  Me  with  a  Letter  to  his  Ex- 
cellency Govr.  Hancock  requesting  that 
She  may  be  apprehended  agreeable  to  the 
Articles  of  Confederation  and  sent  back 
that  She  may  be  made  amenable  to  the 
Laws  of  this  State  for  her  felonious  Con- 
duct. This  Letter  I  have  taken  the  Lib- 
erty by  the  Recommendation  of  my  Friend 
Mr.  Ludlow  to  send  under  Cover  to  You, 
and  have  to  request  that  You  would  be  so 
good  as  to  deliver  it  to  Govr.  Hancock  as 
soon  as  it  comes  to  Hand,  who  I  make  no 
doubt  will  give  every  Aid  in  his  Power  to 
apprehend  her  —  to  assist  in  finding  the 
Wench  it  is  necessary  to  give  you  the  fol- 
[     242     ] 


A  GREEN   OLD   AGE 

lowing  Description  —  She  is  remarkably 
short  about  28  Years  of  Age  a  Yellowish 
Complexion  her  Front  Teeth  are  bad  She 
wears  her  Hair  turned  back  over  a  Roll 
and  was  pregnant  when  She  left  Me  — 
her  Husband  who  is  now  with  her  is 
about  25  Years  old  slender  made  about 
5  feet  or  6  inches  high  black  Complexion 
dresses  his  Hair  back  and  one  or  two  of 
his  Fingers  of  one  of  his  Hands  is  maimed 
and  in  some  Measure  useless  —  As  She  is 
an  artful  Wench  to  prevent  her  escaping 
I  beg  when  She  is  apprehended  that  She 
may  be  confined  until  Capt.  Barnard  who 
commands  the  Schooner  Boston  Packet 
and  who  will  leave  this  on  Wednesday  is 
ready  to  sail  for  New  York  and  who  has 
promised  to  take  Charge  of  her  —  You 
will  be  pleased  to  Deliver  her  to  him  just 
before  he  sails,  with  her  Cloaths  and  such 
Things  as  may  be  found  with  her,  and 
whatever  Expence  and  Trouble  may  at- 
tend this  Business,  I  will  chearfully  pay  to 
[     243     ] 


STEPHEN   HIGGINSON 

your  Order,  and  your  Friendship  in  this 
will  much  oblige 

Gentlemen  Your  most  obt.  and  very 
humble  Servt. 

Tho.  Smith. 
Messrs.  Jackson  and  Higginson,  Boston. 

I  should  personally  take  an  extreme  in- 
terest in  knowing  precisely  what  reply  was 
made  by  the  house  of  Jackson  &  Higgin- 
son to  this  confiding  request;  but  those 
who  recall  the  opinion  of  John  Hancock, 
expressed  by  "  Laco,"  may  well  doubt 
whether  a  cooperation  between  them  in 
slave-hunting  would  have  been  altogether 
harmonious. 

The  following  passage  from  a  letter 
throws  a  curious  light  upon  the  land  spec- 
ulations of  early  days:  — 

Our  Court  have  granted  you  3000  Acres 
of  Land   in  Our   eastern  Country  &   ap- 
pointed a  Committee  to  lay  it  out  in  York 
Cumberland  or  Lincoln  Counties  the  two 
[     244     ] 


A  GREEN   OLD  AGE 

first  Committees  that  were  appointed  made 
no  return  &  perhaps  owing  to  the  Influ- 
ence you  suspect  of  being  against  you,  but 
the  last  Session  a  new  Committee  was  ap- 
pointed who  will  do  the  Business,  they  are 
good  men  &  mean  I  am  told  to  lay  it  out 
in  the  County  of  York  where  there  is  a 
plenty  of  good  Land  —  Our  Judge  Sewall 
is  Chairman  of  the  Committee  —  I  expect 
next  week  to  see  two  of  the  Gentlemen 
when  I  shall  not  fail  to  urge  them  to  per- 
fect the  Business  &  to  your  advantage  — 
I  should  have  wrote  you  before  on  this 
matter  but  I  have  not  till  within  a  few 
days  been  able  to  find  the  real  state  of  it. 
I  am  interested  in  a  lot  of  Land  in  north 
Carolina,  my  share  is  10,000  Acres,  the 
quality  of  it  is  said  to  be  very  good  &  the 
value  of  it  great,  from  two  to  three  Dol- 
lars ^  Acre  —  I  have  heard  much  of  its 
value  &c  but  I  know  nothing  about  it  but 
from  the  Accounts  of  others  —  it  is  so  very 
distant  from  hence  that  I  never  expect  to 
[     245     ] 


STEPHEN   HIGGINSON 

have  such  knowledge  of  it  as  is  necessary 
to  make  any  advantage  of  it  either  in  the 
way  of  sale  or  improvement,  but  you  by 
living  in  the  neighborhood  may  perhaps 
find  your  account  in  exchanging  what  may 
be  set  off  to  you  here  for  it,  as  the  same 
difficulty  will  attend  your  holding  wild 
Lands  here  —  I  would  therefore  propose 
to  you  an  inquiry  into  the  Value  of  my 
Lands  in  No.  Carolina,  in  order  that  if 
We  think  it  convenient  We  may  thus  ex- 
change upon  fair  and  equitable  terms  — 
Mr.  Hawkins  I  suppose  can  give  you  full 
information  about  it,  I  could  not  describe 
it  to  him  with  precision  from  memory 
when  I  was  in  Congress,  but  he  appeared 
to  be  well  acquainted  with  that  Country 
where  it  lays  —  my  share  is  one  eighth 
part  of  a  Tract  containing  Eighty  thou- 
sand Acres  which  is  part  of  a  Tract  of 
Land  qt  100,000  Acres  granted  by  the 
King  to  Governor  Dobbs  by  eight  patents 
of  12,500  Acres  each,  it  is  known  by  the 
>      [     246    ] 


A  GREEN   OLD  AGE 

name  of  the  great  'Tract  &  is  situated  on 
Rocky  or  Johnson  River  &  the  Branches 
thereof  in  Mecklenburg  County,  &  is  said 
to  be  of  excellent  quality  &  within  seven 
miles  of  the  Court  house. 

We  purchased  it  of  Mr.  Alexander  Rose 
of  So.  Carolina  &  have  from  him  the  orig- 
inal Patents  with  his  own  Deeds  &  the 
intermediate  Ones,  so  that  the  Title  is  very 
clear  and  good  —  Mr.  Rose  has  declared 
to  us  that  he  could  have  had  for  it  since 
or  before  two  hard  Dollars  P  Acre,  &  a 
Gentleman  who  came  through  the  Coun- 
try told  us  he  knew  the  Land  perfectly, 
that  it  was  well  situated  &  very  good,  & 
he  was  very  urgent  with  us  to  be  admitted 
to  a  share  in  the  purchase,  promising  that 
he  would  go  &  see  it  settled  &c.  We  had 
made  Our  Company  &  declined  —  Our 
Company  are  Jona.  Jackson,  John  Lowell, 
Nath  Tracy,  Leo.  Jarvis,  T :  Russell,  Mar- 
tin Brimmer,  Jn°  &  Andrew  Cabot  and  my- 
self—  I  have  since  heard  that  the  Land  is 
[     247     ] 


STEPHEN   HIGGINSON 

not  so  good  as  We  had  heard  but  it  was 
from  a  Person  who  lived  in  that  Country 
and  wanted  to  purchase  —  Now  I  wish  you 
to  satisfy  yourself  as  to  the  quality  &  value 
of  it,  which  you  may  easily  do  with  this 
description  of  it  taking  care  to  distinguish 
between  those  who  wish  to  purchase  it 
&  those  from  whom  you  can  get  a  dis- 
interested Account  of  it  —  Mr.  Hawkins 
I  should  suppose  can  put  you  in  a  way  to 
get  the  information  wanted  —  as  it  is  much 
out  of  Our  reach  I  believe  some  of  the 
others  would  sell  on  good  terms  —  The 
sire  of  your  mare  from  the  best  information 
I  can  get  was  a  horse  imported  by  the  late 
Governor  Wentworth  of  New  Hampshire 
called  the  little  Driver  a  very  famous 
horse  in  this  Country  —  present  my  re- 
spects to  all  Friends. 

I  am  yours  affye 

[Stephen  Higginson.] 

Honble  Arthur  Lee,  Esqre 
Member  of  Congress  Annapolis 

[      248     ] 


A  GREEN   OLD   AGE 

It  is  a  curious  fact  that  the  signature  of 
this  letter  is  omitted;  but  it  is  in  the  hand- 
writing of  Mr.  Higginson,  and  endorsed 
by  Mr.  Lee  as  having  been  received  from 
him.  The  omission  was  doubtless  acci- 
dental, although  had  it  occurred  later,  after 
the  Federalists  had  become  objects  of  sus- 
picion and  possible  indictment,  a  different 
interpretation  might  have  been  put  upon 
it. 

The  gift  of  land  by  the  State  of  Massa- 
chusetts to  Arthur  Lee  was  made,  it  will 
be  remembered,  in  acknowledgment  of  his 
services  to  the  colony  as  its  agent  in  Eng- 
land in  connection  with  Benjamin  Frank- 
lin. The  amount  appropriated  to  him  has 
been  usually  stated  at  four  thousand  acres, 
but  is  here  fixed  at  three  thousand.  The 
reference  to  Southern  lands  is  very  inter- 
esting, as  showing  that  the  Boston  mer- 
chants were  already  extending  their  in- 
terests very  widely.  I  have  been  able  to 
ascertain  nothing  further  about "  the  great 
[     249    ] 


STEPHEN   HIGGINSON 

tract,"  except  that  my  kinsman,  Colonel 
Henry  Lee,  once  told  me  that  he  used  to 
hear  these  lands  mentioned  in  his  youth; 
and  that  it  was  a  tradition  in  the  family 
that  Jonathan  Jackson,  being  urged  to  go 
and  visit  them,  replied  that  he  would  do 
it  if  the  other  owners  would  send  him  in 
a  coach-and-six.  It  is  hardly  worth  while 
to  follow  up  further  any  feature  of  that 
period  which  even  Colonel  Lee's  memory 
cannot  recall ;  but  if  I  am  among  the  legal 
heirs  to  a  few  hundred  acres  of  North  Car- 
olina land  "  of  excellent  quality,"  I  should 
certainly  be  very  glad  to  know  it.  As  to 
the  close  of  this  letter,  there  is  something 
very  amusing,  and  perhaps  rather  health- 
ful and  creditable,  in  the  manner  in  which 
the  writer's  discourse,  beginning  with 
Alexander  Hamilton  and  the  five  per  cent 
impost,  ends  with  horseflesh  and  the  Little 
Driver. 

The   following   letter    is    addressed   to 
the  Rev.  John  Pierce,  then  Stephen  Hig- 
[     250    ] 


A  GREEN   OLD  AGE 

ginson's  pastor  in  the  Brookline  (Mass.) 
Congregational  parish,  and  in  later  life  a 
familiar  object  at  the  Commencement  din- 
ners at  Harvard  College,  where  he  always 
led  the  singing.  It  will  doubtless  be  re- 
garded by  his  successors  in  the  ministry 
as  affording  an  admirable  example  for 
parishioners.  The  original  letter  is  en- 
dorsed in  the  usual  methodical  manner  of 
Dr.  Pierce,  "  Stephen  Higginson,  Senior, 
Feb.  13,  1805    $100." 

Boston,  Feby  13,  1805. 

D.  Sir, — With  concern  we  have  heard 
of  your  illness;  but  with  pleasure  we  this 
day  learn  by  Mr.  Heath  that  you  are 
mending. 

I  inclose  you  100  dollars  in  Bills,  which 
[I]  beg  you  to  accept,  persuaded  that 
Gentlemen  in  your  profession  are  not  suf- 
ficiently compensated  for  their  labours, 
nor  furnished  by  their  Hearers  with  com- 
petent means  of  support,  especially  in 
[     251     ] 


STEPHEN   HIGGINSON 

cases  of  sickness  and  extra  expense,  I 
consider  it  a  duty  for  me  to  contribute 
in  this  way. 

I  have  only  to  request  that  you  will 
not  mention,  nor  feel  yourself  obligated 
by  this  mark  of  esteem  and  friendship  — 
with  my  own  and  Mrs.  Hs.  respects  for 
Mrs.  P  I  remain  Sir  yours  truly  — 

S:    HiGGINSON. 

Stephen  Higginson's  first  wife  died  in 
1788,  and  he  married  for  his  second 
wife,  on  May  15,  1789,  Elizabeth  Per- 
kins, daughter  of  an  English  merchant 
residing  in  Boston,  and  of  no  known  kin- 
ship to  the  well-known  Boston  family  of 
that  name.  She  had  one  child  only, — 
James  Perkins,  born  July,  1791,- — who 
was  the  last  of  his  generation,  and  to 
whom  I  am  indebted  for  some  later 
glimpses  of  my  grandfather.  This  wife 
dying,  he  married,  in  September,  1792, 
as  a  third  wife,  her  sister,  the  marriage 
[     252    ] 


A  GREEN   OLD  AGE 

having    this    quaint    announcement   from 
the  town  clerk :  — 

Boston^  ss. 

A  purpose  of  Marriage  between 

Hon''^^  Stephen  Higginson  Esq  &  M''^ 

Sarah  Perkins,  of  Boston 


Has  stood  entered  with  me  for  the  Space 
of  Fifteen  Days,  and  due  Publication 
of  such  their  Intention  or  Purpose  has 
been  made  by  asking  their  Banns  at  three 
several  public  Meetings  within  the  said 
Town,  as  the  Law  directs. 
Certified  under  my  Hand  the  24  Day  of 
September  —  Anno  Domini^  1792 
William  Cooper   Town  Clerk. 

In  George  Ticknor's  interesting  life  of 
his  own  boyhood  and  early  training,  edited 
by  Hillard,  Ticknor  says  of  himself,  "At 
this  period  I  very  much  frequented  the 
families  of  Mr.  Stephen  Higginson,  Mr. 
[     253    ] 


STEPHEN   HIGGINSON 

S.  G.  Perkins,  Mr.  Richard  Sullivan, 
Mr.  William  Sullivan,  Dr.  John  C.  War- 
ren, Senior,  and  Mr.  William  Prescott."' 
During  the  War  of  1812,  while  the  Hart- 
ford Convention  was  going  on,  Ticknor 
had  occasion  to  call  on  President  John 
Adams,  and  gives  this  description  of  his 
return  from  the  visit:  — 

I  felt  so  uncomfortably,  that  I  made 
my  acknowledgments  for  his  kindness  in 
giving  me  the  letters,  and  escaped  as  soon 
as  I  could. 

A  few  days  afterward  {226.  Dec,  1814) 
I  set  out  on  my  journey,  having  the  advan- 
tage of  Mr.  Samuel  G.  Perkins's  company 
as  far  as  Washington.  He  was  one  of  the 
prominent  merchants  in  Boston  —  a  man 
of  no  small  intellectual  culture,  and  of  a 
very  generous  and  noble  nature.  He  had 
been  a  great  deal  about  the  world,  and 
understood  its  ways.    His  manners  were 

'  Hillard's  Lt/e  of  Ticknor,  i,  12. 
[      254      ] 


A  GREEN   OLD  AGE 

frank,  open-hearted,  and  decisive,  and,  to 
some  persons,  brusque.  All  men  respected, 
many  loved  him. 

Mrs.  Perkins  was  the  daughter  of  Mr. 
Stephen  Higginson,  Senior,  —  an  import- 
ant person  at  one  time  in  the  political 
affairs  of  the  town  of  Boston,  and  the  head 
of  the  commercial  house  of  which  Mr. 
Perkins  was  a  member.  Mrs.  Perkins  was 
at  one  time  very  beautiful.  Talleyrand, 
when  I  was  in  Paris  in  1818,  spoke  to  me 
of  her  as  the  most  beautiful  young  person 
he  had  ever  known,  he  having  seen  her 
when  in  exile  in  this  country.  She  was 
always  striking  in  her  person,  and  very 
brilliant  in  conversation.  Her  house  was 
a  most  agreeable  one,  and  I  had  become 
intimate  and  familiar  there,  dining  with 
them  generally  every  week.' 

Stephen  Higginson's  name  appears  in 
the  London  "Court  Guide"  for  1800  as 

1  Hillard's  Life  of  Ticknor,  i,  13. 

[     ^55     ] 


STEPHEN   HIGGINSON 

residing  at  lo  Gower  Street.  Later  he 
spent  from  1806  to  181 2  in  England  with 
his  third  wife  and  was  there  again  in  18 18. 
While  there  he  wrote  back  to  his  son 
Stephen  (my  father)  remonstrating  over 
the  latter's  dangerous  course  in  sending 
out  vessels,  even  while  this  was  made 
most  perilous  by  Orders  in  Council,  on  the 
one  side,  and  by  Berlin  and  Milan  Decrees 
on  the  other.  In  this  respect  my  father 
was  influenced  by  the  opinions  of  George 
Cabot,  who  believed  at  times  that  Napo- 
leon's fall  was  near,  my  father  meanwhile 
risking  hundreds  of  thousands  of  dollars 
on  that  expectation,  a  misfortune  which 
my  grandfather  had  apparently  escaped 
through  greater  caution. 


XV 

THE  STRANGE   CAREER    OF  A 
SON  AND   HEIR 

"  My  father's  brother,  but  no  more  like  my  father 
Than  I  to  Hercules." 

—  Hamlet,  Act  I,  Sc.  2. 


THE  STRANGE   CAREER   OF  A 
SON   AND    HEIR 

A  MYSTERY  has  always  been  at- 
tached to  the  whole  career  of 
Stephen  Higginson's  eldest  son. 
Born  at  Salem  on  January  15,  1765,  and 
bearing  the  traditional  family  name  of 
John,  he  was  appointed  on  March  4,  1791, 
a  lieutenant  of  infantry  under  the  new 
government,  through  the  influence  of 
General  Knox,  Secretary  of  War.  He 
had  previously  served  in  1787  as  an  en- 
sign in  Jackson's  forces,  and  had  since 
been  a  master  mariner.  His  father  had 
asked  for  a  captain's  commission  for  him 
and  followed  it  up  by  this  frank  letter:  — 

Boston  April  7"  1790. 

Sir: 

I  received  your  obliging  Letter  by  the 
last  post,  and  thank  you  for  your  friendly 
intentions   both  as   to   me    and   my  Son 
[     259     ] 


STEPHEN   HIGGINSON 

John.  I  had  no  expectation,  nor  did  I 
even  wish,  that  the  established  rules  of 
rank  &c  should  be  infringed  to  benefit 
John.  All  I  aimed  at  was  to  secure  to  him 
that  grade,  which  he  would  obtain  by  a 
personal  application,  in  virtue  of  his  for- 
mer Commission,  if  a  company  could  in 
that  way  fall  to  his  lot,  it  would  be  very 
agreeable;  but  if  not,  he  must  be  content 
with  a  lower  grade.  The  same  post  that 
handed  me  yours,  brought  me  also  a  letter 
from  him,  in  which  he  requests  me  to 
apply  for  a  Commission  for  him;  having 
some  how  heard,  that  a  new  Corps  was  to 
be  raised.  All  I  wish  is,  that  he  may  have 
as  eligible  a  Station,  as  the  rules  in  such 
cases  will  admit  of.' 

The  next  glimpse  that  we  have  of  Lieut. 
John  Higginson  is  to  be  found  in  the  fol- 
lowing extract  from  the  conversation  of  the 
late  James  Elliot  Cabot  —  Emerson's  bio- 

*  American  Historical  Association  Report,  1896,  i,  780,  781. 
[      260      ] 


A   SON   AND   HEIR 

grapher  —  with  his  mother,  who  was  full 
of  reminiscences  as  she  grew  older:  — 

"John  Higginson  married  in  Paris. 
Your  father  was  his  groomsman.  When 
all  were  waiting,  he  did  not  appear;  and 
your  father  went  after  him  to  his  lodgings, 
and  found  him  there  with  his  feet  on  the 
mantel-piece.  He  had  forgotten  all  about 
it.  His  friends  got  a  shop  for  him,  and  he 
agreed  to  keep  it,  if  it  was  small  enough 
for  him  to  reach  everything  without  get- 
ting up.  He  used  to  tell  the  customers  to 
help  themselves." ' 

The  story  is  that,  after  marrying  this 
French  lady  in  Paris,  in  1796,  he  some- 
how amassed  a  large  fortune  and  had 
two  daughters,  Jeanette,  who  died  young, 
and  Simplice,  who  became  the  Vicomtesse 
de  RouilM.  He  lived,  so  it  is  said,  in  much 
display  in  Paris,  but  died  at  Richmond, 
Va.,  at  the  house  of  Mr.  Meyers,  in  1818. 

'  J.  Elliot  Cabot  (privately  printed),  p.  93. 

[    ^6.    ] 


STEPHEN   HIGGINSON 

It  has  been  already  mentioned  that 
Stephen  Higginson,  under  the  influence  of 
George  Cabot,  burned  most  of  his  private 
letters  before  his  death.  It  is  curious  that 
among  those  preserved  should  be  a  letter 
from  him  to  his  French  granddaughter, 
accompanied  by  a  reply  that  came  to  him 
from  her.  The  correspondence  is  too  curi- 
ous not  to  print,  though  his  letter  shows 
an  asperity  which  rather  suggests  "  Laco  " 
and  is  quite  unusual  from  him,  while  hers 
has  a  beguiling  quality  which  might  have 
come  out  of  a  French  novel. 

Brookline  OctT  I?*  1826 
My  Dear  Grand  Daughter 

I  have  rec'd  your  affectionate  Letter  of 
the  S^^  of  June  last,  &  have  considered  its 
contents.  While  I  thank  you  for  the  kind 
expressions  of  regard  it  contains,  &  par- 
ticularly for  the  strong  desire  you  express 
to  come  to  America  for  the  purpose  of 
seeing  me,  I  must  say  to  you  that  my 
[    262     ] 


A   SON   AND   HEIR 

great  age  &  the  infirmities  consequent  to 
it,  forbid  me  to  indulge  the  hope  of  seeing 
you  in  this  life.  You  must  regret  this  de- 
cision of  mine  the  less,  since  the  same 
reasons  I  have  given  for  it,  would  operate, 
should  I  continue  so  long  in  life,  to  take 
from  you  the  pleasure  you  might  antici- 
pate from  a  personal  interview. 

I  will  avail  myself  of  this  occasion  to 
perform  to  you  a  painful  duty,  but  neces- 
sary, as  it  will  prevent  a  disappointment 
hereafter  of  any  expectations  you  may 
have  formed  of  deriving  a  benefit  from 
what  property  I  may  leave  at  my  de- 
cease. My  pecuniary  circumstances  have 
so  changed  within  a  few  years  last  past, 
that  I  shall  barely  be  able  to  make  a 
tolerable  provision  for  those  children  who 
are  about  me,  &  who  have  been  more 
unfortunate  in  money  concerns  than  my- 
self. I  must  distribute  what  I  have 
amongst  them,  or  they  may  suffer. 

It  is  a  relief  to  my  mind  on  this  subject, 
[     263     ] 


STEPHEN   HIGGINSON 

that  I  had  advanced  to  your  late  father  in 
his  life  time,  a  much  greater  sum  than 
would  have  fallen  to  his  share,  had  he 
survived  me  —  the  whole  of  which  was 
unpaid  at  his  death,  &  is  still  due  me. 
And  the  Justice  of  the  actual  disposition 
I  shall  make  of  my  property,  will  be  the 
more  apparent  to  you,  when  when  (sic)  you 
consider  the  fact  which  must  be  known  to 
your  mother  as  well  as  it  is  to  me  —  that 
she  has  heretofore  received  from  her  hus- 
band the  whole  of  what  he  had  acquired 
since  he  left  France. 

With  my  kind  regards  to  your  mother, 
I  am  your  affectionate  Grandfather 
Stephen  Higginson.' 

It  apparently  took  this  granddaughter 
a  year  and  a  half  to  muster  courage  to  an- 
swer him,  and  he  died  a  few  months  after 
receiving  her  letter. 

'  From  MSS. 
[      264      ] 


A   SON   AND   HEIR 

lyon. June  6  1828 
My  dear  grand  father 

I  could  not,  without  an  afflicted  and 
thankful  sentiment,  read  your  letter  of  the 
first  October,  by  my  reading  it  I  under- 
stood that  you  loved  me,  that  you  was 
thinking  of  me  always  notwithstanding  my 
living  far  from  your  eyes;  and  that  you 
have  a  expressed  a  wish  to  see  me  nearer 
to  you.  that  wish  made  me  happy  and  it 
makes  me  happy  yet  now,  because  I  keep 
alive  the  hope  of  going  to  america,  and 
receiving  from  your  hands  the  benediction, 
you  fill  my  soul  with  sorrow,  when  you 
appear  to  renounce  to  the  pleasure  of  see- 
ing me  in  this  world,  wherefore,  my  dear 
father,  do  you  permit  that  so  sad  a  thought 
may  invade  your  heart?  your  health  is 
good  indeed  and  your  soul  strong,  you 
must,  therefore  appreciate  the  life  for  the 
happiness  of  the  friends  and  parents  living 
around  you. 

since  I  took  the  pleasure  and  honour  of 
[     265     ] 


STEPHEN   HIGGINSON 

writing  to  you,  my  dear  father,  I  brought 
out  a  third  little  child,  it  had  caused  to 
me  long  pains,  .  .  .  and  the  poor  child 
died  three  months  after  its  birth.  I  was 
very  afflicted  by  its  death;  but  I  receive 
great  comfort  from  my  three  [5/c]  child- 
ren alive. 

I  am  very  grateful  to  you,  dear  grand 
father,  for  your  forgetting  not  your  french 
grand  daughter,  she  pursues  her  studies 
in  the  english  language  in  order  to  enable 
herself  of  conversing  with  you  when  her 
meeting  you  will  take  place,  in  educating 
my  sons  carefully,  I  will  teach  them  to 
communicate  in  english,  with  the  family 
of  their  mother,  and  to  love  you  as  I  do. 

my  husband  joins  his  wishes  to  the 
mine  for  the  duration  and  improvement 
of  your  health,  and  I  am  respectfully  and 
friendly,  dear  grand  father,  your  most 
devoted  and 

affectionate  grand  daughter 

HiGGINSON    V"^^^    DE    ROUILLE 

[    266    ] 


A   SON   AND   HEIR 

Now  that  I  am  officiating  as  biographer, 
I  confess  to  some  regret  that  this  should 
be  the  last  memorial  in  my  possession  in 
respect  to  the  French  member  of  the 
family.  Either  her  sons  all  died  or  else 
some  more  absorbing  interest  prevented 
them  from  carrying  out  her  promise,  and 
I  have  tried  in  vain  to  obtain  from  the 
Almanach  de  Gotha  any  further  traces  of 
this  branch  of  the  family  de  Rouille,  or 
any  records  of  the  infusion  of  this  Amer- 
ican blood.  The  descent  of  the  title  seems 
to  have  been  irregular  and  transferred  ; 
but  the  letters  tell  their  own  story,  so  far 
as  they  go.  It  is  also  curious  that  I  can 
obtain  through  Virginia  correspondents  no 
further  details  as  to  the  death  of  Captain 
John  Higginson  at  Richmond,  so  that  his 
whole  later  life  is  likely  to  remain  an  un- 
solved mystery. 


XVI 
LAST    DAYS    IN    BROOKLINE 

"  Brightening  to  the  last." 

Goldsmith's  Deserted  Village,  line  909. 


I 


LAST    DAYS    IN    BROOKLINE 

So  far  as  I  can  remember,  I  had  but 
one  glimpse  of  my  grandfather,  and 
that  was  when  I  was  nearly  live 
years  old.  After  riding  over  to  Brookline 
in  a  yellow  and  creaking  chaise,  where  I 
sat  between  my  father  and  mother,  I  can 
dimly  recall  what  followed.  It  has  always 
been  my  impression,  that  after  we  had 
driven  through  a  gateway  beneath  shading 
trees,  I  saw  on  the  right  an  aged  man 
wearing  small-clothes  such  as  I  had  never 
seen  my  father  wear,  and  walking  with 
an  old-fashioned  cane  which  is  still,  if  I 
mistake  not,  my  property.  This  was  my 
sole  glimpse  of  Stephen  Higginson.  My 
cousin.  Rev.  William  Henry  Channing, 
who  was  a  dozen  years  older  than  my- 
self, wrote  out,  however,  an  ample  de- 
scription of  our  common  grandfather  as 
[     271     ] 


STEPHEN   HIGGINSON 

seen  in  those  later  years,  and  this  with 
such  vividness  as  amply  deserves  preser- 
vation.   It  is  as  follows:  — 

Let  ine  first  of  all  describe  my  grand- 
father. He  must  at  that  period  when  he 
first  rises  on  my  memory  have  been  be- 
tween sixty  and  seventy  years  of  age,  and, 
owing  doubtless  to  the  fact  that,  following 
the  universal  fashion  of  gentlemen  of  his 
position  in  that  period,  he  wore  his  gray 
hair  powdered,  he  was  to  me  the  type  of 
all  that  was  most  ancient  and  venerable. 
His  imposing  figure,  air,  and  manner  filled 
me  with  ever  new  admiration,  as,  clothed 
in  entire  black,  with  his  snowy  locks  and 
queue,  and  his  ruffied  wristbands  and  shirt 
bosom,  white  cravat  above,  and  tightly 
buttoned  gaiters  or  buckled  shoes  below, 
with  broad-brimmed  hat  and  gold-headed 
cane,  he  descended  the  door-steps  to  en- 
ter his  carriage.  This  carriage,  one  of  the 
large,  brightly  ornamented,  highly  pol- 
[     272     ] 


LAST   DAYS    IN   BROOKLINE 

ished  style  then  in  vogue,  with  a  lofty 
cushioned  box  seat  for  the  coachman  and 
platform  behind  for  the  footman,  had  been 
built  in  England,  whence  my  grandfather 
had  lately  returned,  and  was,  I  presume, 
of  very  much  the  same  pattern  as  thou- 
sands which  are  seen  every  day  in  all 
European  and  American  cities.  But  it 
affected  my  imagination  then  as  a  princely 
equipage.  So,  as  all  boys  are  wont  to 
fancy,  my  grandfather  appeared  to  me  the 
peer  of  the  noblest.  And  still  more  stately 
and  elegant  was  he  to  my  imagination 
when  attired  in  full  costume  to  receive 
his  guests  at  dinner  or  evening  parties  in 
his  own  house.  Such  was  my  grandfather 
when  prepared  to  take  his  place  in  soci- 
ety. But  the  daily  morning  preparation  for 
this  grand  display  was  an  ever  new  mys- 
tery, which  was  watched  with  curious 
delight.  He  came  down  to  the  breakfast- 
room  in  a  long  white  woolen  wrapper 
belted  around  the  middle,  always  greeting 
[     273     ] 


STEPHEN   HIGGINSON 

us  little  folks  with  a  benignant  smile,  and 
entertaining  us  during  the  meal  b}^  pleas- 
ant sallies,  droll  stories,  and  small  talk, 
chatting  between  the  whiles  with  his  wife 
or  my  mother,  as  he  sipped  his  chocolate 
or  coffee  and  read  his  newspaper.  And 
then  came  the  chief  mysteries  of  the  toilet. 
His  mirror,  razors,  hot  water,  napkins,  etc., 
were  brought  in  by  his  man-servant,  and 
placed  in  full  light;  for  my  grandfather 
always  chose  to  shave  himself.  The  pro- 
cess was  deliberate  and  solemn,  for  he  was 
very  precise  and  neat.  And  then  came  the 
time  for  my  grandmother's  skillful  manip- 
ulations. The  large  japanned-box,  with 
powder-puffs,  brushes  andpombs,  etc.,  was 
opened,  a  large  clean  napkin  was  spread 
over  the  shoulders  of  my  grandfather,  the 
ribbon  of  the  queue  was  unrolled,  shaken, 
and  smoothed,  the  locks  were  carefully 
brushed  out,  the  powder  used  on  the 
previous  day  was  carefully  removed,  the 
forehead  was  cleansed  with  a  sponge,  and 
[     274     ] 


LAST   DAYS  IN   BROOKLINE 

then  the  readjustment  began.  The  hair 
carefully  brushed  back  over  the  head 
and  behind  the  ears,  though  not  so  tight 
as  to  be  flat,  but  rather  loosely,  and  then 
neatly  bound  into  a  queue.  Then  the 
powder-puff  was  profusely  used;  a  half- 
moon  of  pure  white  was  marked  upon  the 
summit  of  the  forehead  in  front  of  the 
hair.  Next  the  napkin  round  the  shoul- 
ders was  removed,  and  a  fresh  white  cra- 
vat with  long  lapels  was  folded  and  skill- 
fully tied  around  the  neck.  So  much  for 
the  upper  part  of  the  person.  Next  came 
the  serious  work  of  making  ready  the 
nether  limbs.  These  were  the  days  of 
small-clothes  and  long  hose,  which  varied 
in  thickness  according  to  the  season.  In 
the  winter  time  or  inclement  weather,  my 
grandfather  wore  woolen  gaiters  button- 
ing up  to  the  knee,  but  in  the  summer  or 
in  fine  weather  he  wore  black  silk  stock- 
ings, or  in  very  hot  weather  white.  But 
it  was  a  lengthened  performance  to  tie 
[     275     ] 


STEPHEN   HIGGINSON 

down  the  drawers;  to  pull  up  with  per- 
fect smoothness  —  leaving  no  possible 
wrinkles  —  the  stockings;  to  garter  them 
tightly  above  the  knee;  to  arrange  the 
breeches  neatly  over  them  and  button 
them  tight,  and  then  to  fasten  on  the 
gaiters  or  the  buckled  shoes,  according 
to  the  weather.  And  then  my  grandsire 
proceeded  up-stairs  to  complete  his  equip- 
ment, —  to  don  his  low-hung  waistcoat 
and  broad-skirted  coat.  Certainly,  the 
style  of  those  old  days  was  very  im- 
posing in  effect,  but  it  involved  a  singu- 
lar amount  of  time,  trouble,  and  incon- 
venience, which  in  these  more  careless 
days  is  avoided.  But  dress  then  was  still 
a  fine  art,  and  demanded  considerate 
thought,  as  a  chief  duty  of  social  eti- 
quette. 

But  this  lingering  upon  external  details 
is  doing  my  reverend  ancestor  great  injus- 
tice if  it  leaves  on  the  minds  of  any  reader 
an  impression  that  he  was  in  the  least  de- 
[     ^76     ] 


LAST   DAYS   IN   BROOKLINE 

gree  ostentatious  or  foppish.  No  one  could 
be  more  utterly  free  from  such  folly.  He 
simply  felt  that  it  was  a  part  of  self-respect, 
as  of  mutual  respect,  to  be  scrupulously 
neat,  refined,  and  elegant.  In  truth,  my 
grandfather  was  a  singularly  manly,  ener- 
getic, sensible,  well-balanced,  sagacious 
man  of  business,  prudent  and  practical, 
prompt  and  energetic,  full  of  enterprise  yet 
conscientious  and  cautious.  Engaged  in 
large  transactions  in  copartnership  with  his 
sons,  he  had  been  singularly  successful 
until  the  difficulties  between  Great  Britain 
and  France;  the  Berlin  and  Milan  decrees, 
and  the  American  Embargo,  embarrassed 
his  affairs  as  they  did  then  gall  New  Eng- 
enders engaged  in  commerce.  How  he 
and  his  firm  suffered,  I,  of  course,  was 
quite  too  young  to  form  the  least  notion, 
and  have  never  inquired  since.  Certainly, 
to  all  appearance  he  was  living  entirely  at 
his  ease  and  in  prosperity,  with  his  town 
and  country  house,  horses  and  carriages, 
[     277     ] 


STEPHEN    HIGGINSON 

and  hospitable  welcome  for  all  constant  vis- 
itors and  guests.  Though  now,  in  his  old 
age,  intrusting  the  more  active  offices  of 
the  firm  and  their  extensive  correspond- 
ence to  his  partners  and  their  clerks,  so  far 
as  memory  serves,  my  grandfather  went 
regularly  every  day  to  his  place  of  business 
and  to  the  Exchange. 

Early  I  became  aware  also  that  my 
grandfather  had  been  and  still  was  an  act- 
ive and  influential  politician,  enlisted  with 
intense  earnestness  of  conviction  and  not  a 
little  passion  and  prejudice  and  determined 
will  upon  the  Federal  side.  He  had  long 
been  one  of  the  so-called  Essex  Junto ;  had 
fervently  supported  Washington  and  been 
appointed  by  him  as  naval  commissioner 
for  Boston;  was  in  close  correspondence 
with  Timothy  Pickering;  sat  constantly  in 
counsel  with  George  Cabot,  Josiah  Quincy, 
Harrison  Gray  Otis,  and  their  compeers; 
supported  Fisher  Ames,  as  the  most  trust- 
worthy orator  and  expounder  of  their  party; 
[     278     ] 


LAST   DAYS   IN   BROOKLINE 

stood  firmly  by  Governor  Strong,  admired 
Hamilton  and  Jay,  detested  Jefferson  and 
the  Democrats,  hated  Bonaparte,  dreaded 
French  plots,  confided  implicitly  in  true 
republicanism,  wished  for  cordial  alliance 
with  Great  Britain;  in  a  word,  was  a 
thorough-going,  uncompromising,  ardent, 
steadfast  Federalist,  and  as  such  a  zealous 
and  devoted  patriot  in  every  fibre  of  his 
frame. 

He  was,  moreover,  a  very  powerful  and 
effective  writer  in  the  public  press,  and 
under  his  well-known  signature  of  "Laco" 
had  dealt  very  heavy  blows  against  the 
intriguing,  half-hearted,  double-tongued, 
and  double-dealing  political  manoeuverers 
of  the  time,  in  a  series  of  articles  which, 
for  their  vehement  indignation  and  keen 
satire  and  vigor  of  style,  have  rarely  been 
surpassed.  His  fireside,  therefore,  was  a 
centre  of  earnest  discussion  of  the  great 
practical  controversies  of  the  day;  and 
without  in  the  least  comprehending  the  full 
[     279    ] 


STEPHEN   HIGGINSON 

import  of  their  meaning,  my  boyish  ears 
drank  in  and  my  boyish  heart  and  imagin- 
ation retained  political  impressions,  which 
remained  unaltered  till  the  widening  expe- 
riences of  life,  extended  historical  reading, 
and  the  changed  aspect  of  the  political 
world  at  home  and  abroad,  gradually  modi- 
fied them.  Well  do  I  remember  to  this  day 
the  utter  amazement  with  which,  when 
a  boy  of  some  twelve  years  of  age,  I  heard 
a  gentleman  who  was  visiting  my  mother 
hazard  the  to  me  extravagantly  heretical 
suggestion,  "  A  Democrat  may  be  honest 
in  his  convictions."  In  my  grandfather's 
day  and  home  such  a  remark  would  have 
been  deemed  treason,  and  would  have 
branded  the  person  who  made  it  as  untrust- 
worthy. On  the  whole,  it  was  a  healthful 
stimulation  to  a  child's  intellectual  power 
of  discernment,  honorable  feeling,  and 
patriotic  devotion  to  great  practical  prin- 
ciples inculcated  by  such  men  as  my 
grandfather  and  George  Cabot  and  Henry 
[     ^80    ] 


ALEXANDER    HAMILTON 


LAST   DAYS   IN   BROOKLINE 

Lee,  and  the  many  men  of  mark  whom  he 
gathered  round  him  as  his  guests;  and 
as  all  my  relatives  on  my  father's  side,  as 
well  as  on  my  mother's,  were  zealous  and 
uncompromising  Federalists,  my  whole 
form  of  thought  and  feeling  took  from  the 
first  a  highly  conservative  and  aristocratic 
form. 

These  practical  associations  and  con- 
victions, which  unconsciously  framed  the 
osseous  and  muscular  system  of  my  char- 
acter were  rounded  out  and  completed  by 
the  social  influences  spread  around  me 
by  my  grandmother,  —  an  English  woman 
by  birth  and  breeding,  married  to  my 
grandfather  in  his  widowhood,  many  years 
after  the  death  of  my  mother's  mother.  A 
lover  of  the  world  and  fashionable  society 
and  a  stanch  churchwoman,  her  visitors, 
too,  gentlewomen  of  high-bred  manners, 
elegant  and  stately  appearance,  she  gave 
me  a  standard  of  courtesy  which  wide-ex- 
tended observation  and  experience  through 
[     281     ] 


STEPHEN   HIGGINSON 

many  lands  has  but  slightly  enlarged  or 
enriched. 


There  were  occasionally  two  visitors  of 
a  different  stamp,  excellent  ladies,  who  had 
seen  better  days  and  were  now  fallen  under 
the  cloud  of  misfortune,  through  whose 
softened  eyes,  subdued  tones,  and  modest 
demeanor,  breathed  a  pathetic  minor  key, 
like  an  seolian  harp.  And  two  most  vener- 
able dames,  dressed  alwa3's  precisely  like 
one  another  to  a  pin,  in  brown  silk,  with 
tightly  fitting  caps  and  starched  necker- 
chiefs, the  daughters  of  a  very  celebrated 
and  eccentric  doctor  of  divinity,  with  soft 
little  voices  and  sweet  smiles,  used  to  affect 
my  boyish  fancy,  as  if  two  old-fashioned 
family  portraits  had  suddenly  started  to 
conscious  life,  and  had  stepped  down  from 
their  frames.  My  grandmother  was  of  a 
most  hospitable  temper,  and  a  scrupulously 
neat  housekeeper.  Her  Christmas  din- 
ners for  aunts,  uncles,  and  cousins,  some 
[    282     ] 


LAST   DAYS   IN   BROOKLINE 

twoscore  in  number,  were  festivals  to  be 
looked  forward  to  and  remembered  for 
weeks.  And  every  evening,  tea,  with  but- 
tered bread  in  thin  rolls  and  crisp  cocoa- 
nut  cakes  and  gingerbread,  was  handed 
round  by  the  man-servant  and  maid  with 
great  ceremony. 

Previous  to  this,  however,  had  been  the 
grand  sight  for  the  children  of  building  up 
the  huge  wood-fire  in  the  generous  chim- 
ney. My  grandfather  then  had  wakened 
from  the  long  cosy  nap  which  he  took  every 
afternoon  in  his  comfortable  arm-chair  be- 
fore the  fire-place.  The  servant  brought 
in  the  ample  "leather"  filled  with  logs  of 
wood.  The  high  polished  brass  andirons 
were  drawn  back,  with  a  large  iron  shovel 
the  live  coals  of  the  declining  fire  had  been 
raked  forward,  and  then  amid  the  still 
warm  ashes  was  deposited  the  huge  back- 
log of  hard  wood;  upon  this  was  placed 
the  back-stick;  then  the  fore-stick,  some 
light  and  easily  kindling  wood  inserted 
[     283    ] 


STEPHEN   HIGGINSON 

between  them;  upon  these  were  piled  the 
glowing  embers,  and  over  them,  so  laid  as 
to  leave  interstices  for  the  draught,  were 
reared  smaller  logs  and  sticks,  then  the 
remainder  of  the  red  coals  opened  beneath 
the  fore-sticks,  and  the  work  thus  scien- 
tifically and  artistically  finished.  The  re- 
sult was  a  glorious  blaze  that  warmed  with 
cheery  ruddiness  the  walls  and  ceiling  dark- 
ling in  the  twilight,  and  filled  all  hearts  with 
the  sense  of  good  cheer,  as  the  snowstorm 
was  seen  sweeping  or  the  rain  falling  in 
the  streets,  ere  the  shutters  were  closed  and 
the  curtains  drawn;  and  then  came  the 
magic  hour  for  stories,  as,  gathering  my  sis- 
ters and  myself  on  stools  or  small  chairs 
around  her,  was  opened  for  us  the  world 
of  fairy  romance.  Later  on  came  in  uncles, 
aunts,  neighbors,  and  visitors,  to  chat  over 
the  news,  or  discuss  the  politics  of  the  day, 
or  to  join  in  games  of  whist,  checkers, 
dominoes,  ending  with  a  snug  supper  at 
nine  o'clock.  Altogether,  my  impressions 
[     284    ] 


LAST   DAYS   IN   BROOKLINE 

of  those  times  are  of  most  cordial,  cheer- 
ful friendliness  and  open-handed  hospital- 
ity/ 

'  Frothingham,  Life  of  W.  H.  Channing,  pp.  9-15. 


t 

1 


XVII 

STEPHEN    HIGGINSON    AS 
DRAWN    BY    OTHERS 

«*  Studied  in  his  death." 

—  Macbeth,  Act  I,  Sc.  4. 


STEPHEN    HIGGINSON    AS 
DRAWN    BY    OTHERS 

THE  following    summary   of    Ste- 
phen Higginson's  public  life  was 
written   by  his  lifelong  friend  as 
well  as  kinsman,  John  Lowell:  — 

Died  in  this  city  [November  22,  1828],  at 
the  advanced  age  of  85,  the  Hon.  Stephen 
Higginson.  Mr.  Higginson  was  born  at 
Salem,  in  the  year  1743,  and  was  the  sole 
surviving  male  descendant  of  the  past  gen- 
eration, of  the  Rev.  Francis  Higginson,  one 
of  the  most  eminent  of  the  Pilgrim  clergy. 
The  late  Mr.  Higginson  was  bred  to  the 
mercantile  pursuit,  under  the  late  Deacon 
Smith  of  this  town,  a  man  of  eminent  pro- 
bity and  worth.  Having  early  incurred  the 
expenses  of  a  family,  to  support  which  his 
business  was  not  competent,  he  betook 
[     289    ] 


STEPHEN   HIGGINSON 

himself  to  the  Home  of  the  Salem  Youth, 
the  Ocean.  From  the  year  1765  to  the 
breaking  out  of  the  war,  he  was  an  active, 
bold  and  successful  shipmaster.  To  this 
early  training  in  hardship,  and  enterprise, 
his  future  character  was  indebted  for  many 
of  its  marked  traits. 

Upon  his  quitting  the  sea,  he  embarked 
ardently  in  the  cause  of  the  Revolution, 
and,  young  as  he  was,  and  unpractised  as 
he  had  been,  in  affairs  of  State,  his  rare 
acuteness  and  sagacity,  and  his  inflexible 
firmness  soon  pointed  him  out  as  a  man 
fitted  for  times  of  peril  and  dismay.  He 
was  sent  to  the  Revolutionary  Congress 
in  1783,  by  the  Legislature  of  this  State, 
where  he  soon  distinguished  himself,  and 
acquired  the  confidence  and  friendship  of 
the  most  eminent  men  in  every  part  of  the 
Union.  When  the  distressing  effects  of  the 
war  began  to  press  heavily  on  the  People 
of  this  State  and  they  broke  out  into  actual 
rebellion  in  1780,  Mr.  Higginson  was  one 
[     290     ] 


JOHN    LOWELL 


_a 


HIGGINSON   DRAWN  BY  OTHERS 

of  the  few  men  selected  by  Gov.  Bowdoin 
as  his  advisers,  in  that  dark  and  stormy 
period;  and  to  that  former  gentleman's 
remarkable  coolness  and  intrepidity,  a  very 
fair  share  of  that  bloodless  victory  of  the 
Constitution  over  Anarchy  may  be  ascribed. 
It  can  hardly  be  forgotten,  that  in  all  the 
measures  which  followed  Washington's 
proclamation  of  Neutrality — in  defeating 
Madison's  war  resolutions  —  in  upholding 
John  Jay,  and  George  Washington  in  his 
efforts  for  preserving  the  peace  of  the  Na- 
tion by  the  treaty  of  1794,  Mr.  Higginson 
was  a  "  Gap  "  man  —  ready  to  mount  the 
breach,  and  to  defend  the  Constitution 
against  all  assaults.  It  would  be  improb- 
able that  a  man  so  inflexible  in  the  pursuit 
of  what  is  right,  should  not  occasionally 
make  enemies,  yet  it  was  his  good  fortune 
to  enjoy,  in  succession,  the  confidence 
of  John  and  Samuel  Adams,  of  Elbridge 
Gerry,  and  of  Washington,  Lincoln, 
Strong,  Brooks,  Cabot,  Parsons,  and  Ames. 
[    291     ] 


STEPHEN   HIGGINSON 

He  was  a  firm  supporter  of  John  Adams's 
administration;  and  in  the  quasi  war 
against  France,  was  by  that  administration 
made  Navy  Agent  for  Massachusetts,  at 
that  interesting  and  active  moment,  which 
office  he  held  until  removed  by  Jefferson. 
In  short,  there  were  not  many  individuals 
in  our  Nation,  whose  minds  were  more 
felt  in  the  war  of  the  Revolution,  in  the 
disturbances  which  succeeded  it,  in  the  cre- 
ation of  a  new  Government,  and  in  the  sup- 
port of  the  feeble  fabric  in  its  infancy,  than 
was  that  of  Stephen  Higginson.  Would  you 
inquire  for  his  political  opinions  ?  Read 
Washington's  Legacy,  and  the  writings  of 
Hamilton.  There  they  are  embodied  — 
where  they  led,  he  was  sure  to  follow. 
Very  few  merchants  suffered  more  deeply 
than  Mr.  Higginson  by  the  spoliations  of 
all  the  belligerents,  yet  his  personal  suf- 
ferings never  warped  his  judgment.  He 
looked  steadily  to  the  peace  and  happiness 
of  his  country  as  his  polar  star.  To  the 
[    292     ] 


HIGGINSON   DRAWN  BY  OTHERS 

ruinous  and  now  exploded  system  of  em- 
bargo and  non-intercourse  he  was  steadily 
opposed,  but  he  was  strenuous  in  favor  of 
an  efficient  marine  as  the  only  honorable 
means  of  making  our  rights  respected.  As 
a  merchant,  Mr.  Higginson  set  an  honor- 
able example  of  enterprise  tempered  by 
discretion.  Though  exposed  to  severe  re- 
verses, his  mind  always  rose  superior  to 
them.  As  a  citizen,  he  was  always  prompt 
and  liberal  in  promoting  every  institution, 
whether  literary  or  charitable.  In  domes- 
tic life  he  displayed  the  virtues  which 
an  understanding  so  sound,  warmed  by  an 
affectionate  heart  could  not  fail  to  form 
and  to  cherish.  The  fair  and  unspotted 
fame,  which  he  inherited  from  his  ances- 
tors, he  took  care  to  transmit  unblem- 
ished to  his  numerous  descendants,  whose 
surest  course  to  honorable  distinction 
will  be  to  imitate  his  correct  and  digni- 
fied example.' 

'  Boston  Daily  Advertiser,  Nov.  23,  1828. 
[      293  ] 


STEPHEN  HIGGINSON 

This  was  the  judgment  of  a  man  who 
had  been  all  his  life  in  close  contact  with 
his  kinsman  and  friend,  Stephen  Higgin- 
son;  but  we  must  turn  to  a  woman's  pen 
for  the  finer  insight  needed  in  summing 
up  personal  character.  On  December  7, 
1828,  my  mother  wrote  to  a  near  kins- 
woman, speaking  of  the  death  of  her 
father-in-law :  — 

"  Of  Him^  no  sentiment  but  of  love, 
admiration  and  reverence  can  be  retained 
—  He  was  the  most  remarkable  com- 
bination of  vigour  and  energy  of  mind, 
with  all  the  elevated  and  generous  affec- 
tions and  the  delicate  refined  sentiments 
that  I  have  ever  known  —  his  character 
and  qualities  should  be  forever  cherished 
by  his  descendants  and  I  hope  I  do  not 
disparage  them  when  I  firmly  believe  that 
not  one  of  them  equals  their  venerable 
head.  He  continued  to  the  last  his  sweet 
consideration  for  others  and  his  gentle 
Patience  —  and  left  on  the  minds  even  of 
[     294     ] 


HIGGINSON   DRAWN   BY  OTHERS 

his  Nurses  and  attendants  the  strongest 
feeling  and  affection.  Dear  old  Man,  I 
love  to  think  of  him  —  and  wish  I  could 
see  in  my  children  qualities  that  I  could 
compare  to  his.  I  consider  it  an  honor 
and  privilege  that  they  descend  from  so 
noble  a  stock  and  hope  his  illustrious  ex- 
ample will  be  incentive  to  excellence  in 
all  of  them." 

With  these  words  from  my  mother  I 
^     may  well  close  this  memorial. 


*' 


INDEX 


INDEX 


Adams,  J.  Q.,  130,  155,  178; 
and  Adet  reception,  174, 
175;  and  a  new  bank,  176, 
177;  Higginson  on,  1 79-181. 

Adams,  John,  42,  61,  67,  130, 
234,  291,  292;  letter  to,  re- 
ferring to  Annapolis  Con- 
vention, 69;  letters  to,  84. 
141;  Ticknor  calls  on,  254. 

Adams,  Samuel,  89,  90,  131, 
156,  291;  and  Congress,  53; 
retires,  157,  158. 

Adet,  Pierre,  visits  Boston, 
168;  dinner  to,  169-173; 
cordial  reception  of,  173, 
174;  J-  Q-  Adams  on,  174, 
175;  Fisher  Ames  on,  175. 

Ames,  Fisher,  178,  179,  225, 
278,  291;  on  Adet  reception, 

17s.  176. 
Amory,  T.  C,  on  the  successor 

to  Gov.  Adams,  157,  158. 
Annapolis,  Md.,  Convention, 

67-79. 
Appleton,  Mr.,  53. 
Atkinson,  S.,  16. 
Austin,  J.  L.,  156. 

Bancroft,  Aaron,  3. 

Bank,    early,    importance   of. 


176-178;    experiment    in, 
181-183. 

Barry,  Capt.,  206. 

Bellamy,  Edward,  88;  on 
Shays'  Rebellion,  loi. 

Bernard,  Francis,  130,  131. 

Bonaparte,  Napoleon,  256. 

Boston,  address  of  merchants 
of,  117;  rejoices  over  con- 
stitution, 121;  more  efficient 
management  of  affairs  of, 
155.  156. 

Bowdoin,  James,  88,  233, 
291. 

Bradford,  William,  221. 

Bradstreet,  Simon,  223. 

Brimmer,  Martin,  222,  247. 

Brooks,  John,  291. 

Burke,  Edmund,  questions 
Stephen  Higginson,  21. 

Cabot,  Mrs.,  of  London,  21. 

Cabot,  Mr.,  of  London,  21. 

Cabot,  Andrew,  247. 

Cabot,  Anna  (Orne),  14. 

Cabot,  George,  5,  15,  42,  45, 
73,  114,  179,  184,  233,  256, 
262,  278,  280;  at  sea,  40,  41; 
appointed  Secretary  of  the 
Navy,   190;  letters  to,   191, 


[       299      ] 


INDEX 


192;  letter  of,  194;  declines 

secretaryship,  194-197. 
Cabot,  J.  E.,  261. 
Cabot,  John,  14. 
Cabot,  John,  45,  46,  247. 
Carey,  Matthew,  117. 
Carmichael,  William,  60,  61. 
Channing,  W.  H.,   235,   271; 

his  description   of  Stephen 

Higginson,  272-285. 
Chapman,  Capt.,  account  of, 

211. 
Charles  I,  50. 
Cheverus,  Father,  234. 
Clarke,  Abraham,  54,  55. 
Cleveland,  Aaron,  15. 
Cleveland,  Richard,  40. 
Cleveland,  Stephen,  letters  to, 

44,  45- 
Cleveland,  Susanna  (Porter), 

IS- 

Clinton,  George,  242. 

Clymer,  George,  72. 

Coffin,  Peleg,  222. 

CoUyer,  Mr.,  46. 

' '  Conciliatory      resolutions," 
the,  119,  120. 

Confederation,  revising  the, 
112,  116;  end  of,  115. 

Congress,  114;  proposes  meet- 
ing at  Philadelphia,  115; 
address  to,  117;  and  the 
Constitution,  118,  119. 

Constitution,  present,  adopted, 
118,  119,  121. 

Constitution,  frigate,  203,  204. 


Continental  Congress,  49-63. 
Cooper,  William,  253. 
Crawford,  G.  W.,  on  banks, 

182. 
Gushing,  Thomas,  158. 

Dana,   Francis,    57,    73,    114, 

116,  117,  178,  179. 
Dane,  Nathan,  114;  letter  to, 

106. 
Dawes,  Thomas,  155. 
Decatur,  Stephen,  202,  206. 
Democrats,  the,  41,  279. 
Derby,  Charles,  40. 
Derby,  E.  H.,  39. 
Dexter,  Samuel,  Jr.,  188. 
Dobbs,  Arthur,  246. 
Drowne,  Samuel,  16,  17. 
Duane,  James,  58,  59,  72. 
Dyer,  Eliphalet,  54. 

Ellery,  William,  56. 
Embargo,  the,  156,  157. 
Emerson,  R.  W.,  261. 
Endicott,  John,  223. 
Essex  Junto,  41,  42,  238,  239, 
278. 

Feasts  of  Shells,  described, 
219-222;  criticised,  224- 
227,  227-229. 

Federalists,  the,  42,  161,  208, 
281;  gravity,  3,  4;  Salem 
headquarters  for,  41;  and 
the  future,  153;  objects  of 
suspicion,  249. 


[      300      ] 


INDEX 


Fisheries,  70;  in  the  Colonies, 

22-33. 
Fitzsimmons,     Thomas,     57, 

58.  72. 
Force,  Peter,  22. 
Ford,  W.  C,  59. 
France,  Isle  of,  trade  to,  141- 

149. 
Franklin,  Benjamin,  3,  58,  61, 

249. 
French  &  Co.,  46. 

Gardiner,  John,  225. 

Gerry,  Elbridge,  58,  73,  114, 

116, 117,  291;  and  Congress, 

52,  53- 
Gervais,  J.  L.,  54. 
Gill,  Moses,  158. 
Gorham,    Nathaniel,   51,    52, 

116,  117. 
Gouge,  W.  M.,  on  banks,  182. 

183. 

Hacket,  Capt.,  212, 

Hamilton,  Alexander,  58,  68, 
72,  250,  279,  292;  letters 
of,  destroyed,  183,  184;  re- 
tirement of,  235,  236. 

Hancock,  John,  90,  118,  138, 
233,  242,  244;  and  Stephen 
Higginson,  6;  and  "con- 
ciliatory proposition,"  120; 
ballad  about,  121;  Laco  not 
just  to,  125;  James  Savage 
and,  126-128;  Laco  on,  128- 
136;  and  posterity,  136, 137. 


Hartley,  Thomas,  61. 

Harvard  College,  37,  38,  40; 
Commencement  at,  178. 

Hawkins,  Mr.,  246,  248. 

Heath,  Mr.,  251. 

Heath,  William,  158. 

Hichborn,  Col.  Benjamin,  95; 
leads  force  against  Shays, 
90;  importance  of  expedi- 
tion, 92. 

Higginson,  Elizabeth  (Per- 
kins), second  wife  of  Stephen 
H.,  252. 

Higginson,  Elizabeth,  mother 
of  Stephen,  Second,  14. 

Higginson,  Francis,  223,  289; 
quoted,  7,  10,  11;  death,  11. 

Higginson,  Sir  G.  W.,  10. 

Higginson,  Henry,  account 
of,  38  and  note,  233. 

Higginson,  J.  P.,  252;  and 
Laco,  137. 

Higginson,  Jeanette,  261. 

Higginson,    Joane,    earliest 
known  ancestress,  9,  10. 

Higginson,  Rev.  John  (i),  ac- 
count of,  11;  settles  in 
Salem,  12. 

Higginson,  John  (2),  account 
of,  12. 

Higginson,  John  (3),  12. 

Higginson,  John,  Stephen, 
Sr.'s  eldest  son,  259;  mar- 
riage, 260,  261;  death,  262, 
267. 

Higginson,  Rev.  John,  10. 


[       301       ] 


INDEX 


Higginson,  Louisa  (Storrow), 
description  by,  of  Stephen 
Higginson,  Sr.,  294,  295. 

Higginson,  Nathaniel,  account 
of,  12. 

Higginson,  Nathaniel,  no. 

Higginson,  Sarah  (Perkins), 
third   wife   of   Stephen   H., 

252,  253;  description  of, 
281,  282. 

Higginson,  Simplice.  See 
de  Rouille. 

Higginson,  Stephen  (4),  ac- 
count of,  13,  14. 

Higginson,  Stephen,  Senior  (5), 
116,  126,  156,  158,  225,  229, 

253.  255;  memoir  begun,  4; 
saying  of,  5;  career,  5,  6;  as 
Laco,  6  (see  under  Laco); 
ancestry,  9-15;  birth,  15, 
289;  marriages,  15,  16,  252, 
253;  settles  in  Salem,  21; 
first  voyage,  21;  questioned 
by  House  of  Commons,  2 1 ; 
Marblehead  indignant,  22; 
answers,  22-33;  ^.s  ship- 
master, 37,  38,  40;  and 
Essex  Junto,  42;  privateer- 
ing, 43;  letters  of,  44,  45, 
69,  76,  84,  103,  106,  III, 
141,  153,  158,  162,  163,  167, 
179,  197,  208,  209,  214,  236, 
244,  251,  259,  262;  letters 
to,  75,  198,  199,  200,  202, 
205,  241;  dislikes  to  hold 
office,  49;  and  Continental 


Congress,  49-63 ;  and  Gerry, 
53;  on  committees,  54,  55, 
57,  58,  89,  155;  report  of, 
59,  60;  proposed  delegate 
to  Annapolis  Convention, 
67;  and  Shays'  Rebellion, 
93~97;  111-115;  judgment 
of,  102;  declined  serving  as 
delegate,  117;  signs  protest 
of  merchants,  118;  and  the 
Constitution,  119;  criticism 
of,  125;  story  about,  137; 
standing  of,  138;  sugges- 
tion as  to  trading,  141-149; 
and  country's  future,  153- 
155;  and  affairs  of  Boston, 
155;  on  celebration  of  Wash- 
ington's birthday,  158-161; 
supplied  arms  for  Virginia, 
1 61 -1 67;  and  Pierre  Adet, 
168,  175;  and  banking,  176, 
177,  181-183;  on  J.  Q. 
Adams,  178-181;  destroys 
letters,  184,  207;  suggested 
as  commissioner,  188;  Wil- 
liam Sullivan  on,  190;  act- 
ing Secretary  of  the  Navy, 
197;  Stoddert's  dependence 
on,  198-207,  213-215;  pre- 
sides at  Feast  of  Shells,  222; 
toast  to,  223;  and  public 
affairs,  233,  235;  wealth,  234, 
235;  Brookline  house,  235; 
on  Hamilton,  236-239;  lands 
in  North  Carolina,  246-248; 
in  England,   255,  256 ;    his 


[      302      ] 


INDEX 


eldest  son,  259;  descriptions    Jackson,  Jonathan,   89,    114, 


of,  by  T.  W.  Higginson, 
271;  by  W.  H.  Channing, 
272-285;  by  John  Lowell, 
289-293;  by  L.  S.  Higginson, 
294,  295;  death,  289. 

Higginson,  Stephen,  Jr.  (6), 
234,  256. 

Higginson,  Susan  Cleveland; 
wife  of  Stephen,  Second, 
15,  16. 

Higginson    family,     ancestry, 

9-iS- 
Hildreth,  Richard,  50. 
Hillar,  Capt.,  of  the  Pickering, 

212. 
Hillard,  G.  S.,  253,  sketch  of 

James  Savage,  126. 
Hodshon,  John,  46. 
Hoist,  H.  E.  von,  86. 
Holten  (Holton),  Samuel,  51, 

52,  56. 
Howell,  David,  56. 
Huntington,  Benjamin,  60. 
Huntington,  Samuel,  59. 
Hutchins,  First  Lieut,  of   the 

Herald,  212. 
Hutchinson,     Thomas,     130, 

131- 

Irving,  Washington,  on  George 

Washington,  3,  4. 
Irwin,  John,  55. 
Izard,  Ralph,  60. 

Jackson,  J.  G.,  i6i. 


184,    233,    244,    247,    259; 

Higginson's  partner,  43;  in 

Congress,    49;    his    Corps, 

103,    104;    letter    to,    241; 

urged  to  visit  lands  in  North 

Carolina,  250. 
Jackson  family,  15. 
Jameson,  J.  F.,  115;  publishes 

Stephen    Higginson   letters, 

43;  on  Stephen  Higginson, 

125. 
Jarvis,  Dr.  Charles,  89,  155, 

156. 
Jarvis,  Leo,  247. 
Jay,  John,  61,  279,  291;  letter 

of,  187. 
Jefferson,  Thomas,  6,  42,  279, 

292;    and    shipping,     149; 

Sullivan  unjust  to,  190. 
Jones,  Judge,  of  Virginia,  72. 
Jones,  Mr.,  156. 
Jones,  CofBn,  242. 

King,   Rufus,   113,   114,  117; 

letter  to,  116;  suggested  as 

commissioner,  188. 
Knox,  Henry,  102,  158,  259; 

letter  of,  75;  letters  to,  76, 

103,  III,  153. 
Knox  papers,  74. 

Laco,  233,  244,  262,  279;  let- 
ters of,  aimed  at  Hancock, 
125;  on  John  Hancock, 
128-136;  reaction  of  letters. 


[      303      ] 


INDEX 


137.  See  also  Higginson, 
Stephen. 

Laud,  Archbishop,  227. 

Laurens,  or  Lawrence,  Henry, 
60,  61. 

LeRoy,  Bayard  and  McEvers, 
Messrs.,  161;  letter  to,  162. 

Lee,  A.,  59. 

Lee,  Arthur,  235,  249;  letters 
to,  236,  244;  gift  of  land  to, 
249. 

Lee,  Henry,  250,  281. 

Lee,  John,  45. 

Lee,  Joseph,  40. 

Lee,  family,  15. 

Leverett,  Sir  John,  223. 

Lincoln,  Mr.,  175. 

Lincoln,  Benjamin,  86,  224, 
291;  report  of,  96;  success- 
ful expedition  of,  103. 

Livingstone,  or  Livingston 
Philip,  72. 

Lloyd,  James,  177. 

Lodge,  H.  C,  235. 

Loring,  J.  S.,  on  Laco,  137. 

L'Ouverture,  Toussaint,  163; 
arms  for,  164,  167. 

Lowell,  Judge,  94. 

Lowell,  John,  43,  73,  114,  116, 
117;  233,  247;  on  Stephen 
Higginson,    49,    289-293. 

Lowell  family,  235. 

Ludlow,  Daniel,  242. 

Lyman,  Mr.,  177. 


McCormick,    William,    63. 

[      304      ] 


McEvers,  Charles,  242. 

McNeil,  Daniel,  212. 

Maclay,  William,  on  fitting 
out  a  fleet,  189,  190. 

Madison,  James,  29,  58,  72, 
112. 

Marshall,  John,  3. 

Mason,  Jonathan,  233. 

Massachusetts  Legislature, 
106;  selection  of  members 
from,  116,  117;  conciliatory 
resolutions  of,  119,  120. 

Mather,  Cotton,  126. 

Meyers,  Mr.,  262. 

Morris,  Gouverneur,  4. 

Morris,  Robert,  72,  189. 

Morse,  Jedediah,  229. 

Nicholson,  James,  205,  206. 
North,  Capt.,  78. 

Osgood,  Samuel,  51. 

Otis,  H.  G.,  157,  278;  and  a 

new  bank,  176,  177. 
Otis,  James,  130. 

Page, ,  90. 

Paine,  Edward,  89. 

Paine,  R.  T.,  225;  his  toast, 

223. 

Parker, ,  90. 

Parker,  Samuel,  225. 
Parsons,  Theophilus,  42,   73, 

114,    120,    179,    291;    and 

' '  conciliatory    resolutions," 

119. 


INDEX 


Peabody,  Joseph,  39. 

Perkins  brothers,  234. 

Perkins,  Barbara  Higginson, 
account  of,  255. 

Perkins,  EHzabeth.  See  Hig- 
ginson. 

Perkins,    S.    G.,    account    of, 

254,  255- 

Perkins,  Sarah.  See  Higginson. 

Philadelphia,  proposed  con- 
vention at,  113,  115. 

Phillips,  John,  first  mayor  of 
Boston,  156. 

Phillips,  Wendell,  156. 

Pickering,  Timothy,  225,  278; 
and  the  Essex  Junto,  41, 
42;  letters  to,  158,  163,  194, 
197;  letters  of,  191,  192. 

Pickering  papers,  178. 

Pierce,  John,  250;  letters  to, 
251. 

Pleasants,  James,  161. 

Poncett  &  Maynard,  46. 

Prescott,  William,  254. 

Quincy,  Josiah,  First,  21. 
Quincy,  Josiah,  278. 

Randolph,  John,  72,  161. 
Read,  Jacob,  55. 
Remson,  Mr.,  59. 
Richardson,  James,  4. 
Richmond,    Va.,    arms    for, 

164-167. 
Rigaud,  B.  J.  A.,  167. 
Rigaut.    See  Rigaud. 


Rose,  Alexander,  247. 

Rotch,  Billy,  21. 

Rouille,  Vicomtesse  de  (Sim- 
plice  Higginson),  261;  letter 
to,  262;  letter  of,  265. 

Rouille,  de,  family,  all  traces 
of,    lost,    267. 

Russell,  Joseph,  222. 

Russell,  T.,  247. 

Rutledge,  John,  58. 

Sargent,  Henry,  223. 
Savage,  James,  severity  against 

Cotton    Mather   and   John 

Hancock,  126-128. 
Sever,  Capt.,  201  j  to  protect 

coast,    199,   202,   203,   205; 

orders    for,    205;    and    the 

Herald,    208;    account    of, 

209-211. 
Sewall,  Jonathan,  245. 
Shattuck,  Mr.,  90,  91. 
Shays,  Capt.  Daniel,  95,  102; 

leader  of  Shays'  Rebellion, 

86,  89. 
Shays'   Rebellion,    5,   68,    75, 

83-101,  118;  importance  of, 

83;    beginning,    85;    cause, 

86;  possession  of  courthouse, 

88;    forces   against,  90,  91; 

dangers  of,  in. 
Silsbee,  Nathaniel,  account  of, 

39.  40. 
Silsbee,  William,  39. 
Silsbee,  Zachariah,  40. 
Smith,  Mr.,  of  S.  C,  188. 


[      305      ] 


INDEX 


Smith,  Deacon,  15,  289. 

Smith,  Thomas,  his  letter 
about  slaves,  241. 

Sparks,  Jared,  3,  4. 

Stoddert,  Benjamin,  166;  Sec- 
retary of  the  Navy,  190, 197; 
depends  on  Higginson,  198- 
207,  213-215;  letters  of, 
198,  199,  200,  202,  205,  214; 
letters  to,  209. 

Story,  Joseph,  and  Shays' 
Rebellion,  119. 

Strong,  Caleb,  117,  291,  279. 

Sullivan,  James,  Gov.,  73,  89, 
93>  95>  15&-158;  on  repre- 
sentatives, 116,  117. 

Sullivan,  Gen.  James,  95. 

Sullivan,  Richard,  254. 

Sullivan,  William,  93,  254; 
account  of,  94;  on  Stephen 
Higginson,  190. 

Sullivan  family,  94. 

Sumner,  Increase,  158. 

TallejTand-Perigord,    C.    M., 

Due  de,  255. 
Ticknor,  George,  quoted,  253, 

254. 
Tracy,  Nathaniel,  247. 


Treaty   of   Amity   and   Com- 
merce, 61-63. 
Truxton.    See  Truxtun. 
Truxtun,  Thomas,  201. 
Tudor,  William,  155. 

Union,  needs  of,  106;  increase 
of  powers  of,  112;  danger 
to,  113. 

Walpole,  Horace,  4. 

Warren,  J.  C,  Sr.,  254. 

Warren,  J.  P.,  loi. 

Washington,  George,  102,  174, 
278,  292;  kindliness,  3,  4; 
letters  to,  96,  187;  attends 
Constitutional  Convention, 
118;  attack  on,  158;  birth- 
day celebration,  158-160; 
Neutrality  Proclamation, 
291. 

Webster,  Daniel,  128. 

Weems,  M.  L.,  3. 

Went  worth,  Benning,  16,  17. 

Wentworth,  John,  Gov.,  248. 

Whitfield,  Rev.  Henry,  11. 

Wilson,  James,  223. 

Winthrop,  John,  223. 


(Ct)e  iRibetjsibe  pre?? 

CAMBRIDGE  .  MASSACHUSETTS 
U    .    S    •    A 


._:_ 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  LIBRARY 

Los  Angeles 
This  book  is  DUE  on  the  last  date  stamped  below. 


OCT  141985 


^ 


3  1158  00467  6622 


ififif 

^A    001  161  lU    i> 


'RNIA 


